Pokemon Dreams 03 - Doom
by ExuroUniverse
Summary: After two long weeks in a coma, Zack Raines wakes to find he is now a Pokemon, and he discovers that there is more to his new form than he originally thought as he faces a new enemy known as Team Doom. (Rated T for swearing and violence.)
1. Chapter 1 Awake

**AN: Welcome to the second sequel and third in the Dreams series. Like with the previous two stories there will be forty chapters in total with the five stories at the end. I will try to upload each chapter weekly instead of every two weeks unlike the last time with every two weeks or more.**

"I Espeon will drink apple juice nonstop to attempt to break a world record!" Speech

"_Deep thinking has really turned my life around." _ Thought

**Team Doom HQ – Rooftop **Location or Time

* * *

Chapter 01 - Awake

As I looked into their eyes on that rainy day, I thought they were going to wake up at any minute, as if either one of them was going to say something like 'Gotcha' or 'Boo' like they were playing some kind of joke on me... but deep down i knew they weren't. I would never hear them talk again, never going to smile or cry... they were gone.

In that year, I lost so much. I wanted to protect everyone, but I couldn't. It all started off in complete darkness, when I woke to my new form…

It felt as if were floating in darkness void of any light, my entire body from head to toe felt like it was on fire. Just moving a small muscle made everything worse. I wanted to scream, but even making the smallest sound hurt my chest. My mouth had a metallic taste, blood I thought but I wasn't bleeding anywhere. My teeth felt different, slightly sharper especially my canine teeth… _"Odd…"_ I thought since thinking was the only thing that didn't hurt.

"_My name is Zack Raines, I am 19 years old, Rank 02 of the Unova Savior's branch… why am I feeling so much pain?"_ I thought back to the most recent memory I could remember; _"I was at the ruins of Team Annihilation with my Pokemon; Espeon, she can speak both Pokemon and human language. Latias, my oldest friend, we have been together ever since we were young. And lastly was my very first Pokemon I received from Nuvema town before I joined the Savior's 5 years ago' Dewott. All of us were chasing someone… a Pokemon… Shiny Latias. Yes, that's who it was. She's an enemy, an ex member of team Annihilation."_

* * *

I remembered Shiny Latias attacking us in the old library of the ruins; she flew right towards me and stabbed me with something, a needle I think. _"Is that why I am feeling so much pain? It must be, I can only remember complete darkness and silence after the attack."_

"…Zack…" People's voices called out to me. "…Zackary?" voices I recognize well. I wanted to call out to them, but the pain made it difficult for me to respond.

"… …" Voices again, "…Zack, can you hear me?" voices I don't recognize. There were so many voices that I can't tell who they belong to. I thought I was in some sort of coma. That these voices belong to people I had not seen before, but they knew my name. _"Maybe relatives or was it my friend's calling out to me? Perhaps both…"_

"…Zack?" A girl's voice, she sounds sad. "But why, who is she?" I thought listening in to her voice, I could hear her crying. "…Wake up…please…"

And I did, only this time it was temporally because of one thing, pain.

* * *

****

**Castelia City – Savior HQ Medical Floor**

I awoke feeling a sharp pain throughout my body, it was as if my entire body inside and out was on fire.  
Breathing, blinking and moving just a little bit and the pain worsened so much that I cried out because of the intense pain. I heard footsteps from the outside, the door opened, but my eyes stung too much for me to open them up to get a look at who had entered the room.

I tried to call out to them, to tell them how much pain I was in, I needed help. But the pain surging throughout my entire body especially throughout my mouth and throat prevented me from uttering a word. The people that did enter the room only injected me with something that caused me to fall back to sleep.

Hours passed not knowing how much; how long I was out, where I was, or why my body was in so much pain. All I had to do was to wait in this darkness while enduring the pain until it eased up and I could finally know what was happening to me.

Waking up again expecting to feel the same pain as I did before throughout my entire body, I awoke feeling much better than before. I could still feel pain throughout my body, but it was less this time. I guess whatever those people did when they entered the room before helped ease the pain.

Turning my head to the bedside cabinet I saw a bunch of flowers set down with many cards and gifts reading 'Get well soon' 'We miss you' written on different cards. Turning my head facing towards the door, hanging on it was the Savior's 'S' emblem I had seen a few times when I ended up in the medical floor of the building, so I was safe. _'Whatever that injection was must've ended me up here, my Pokemon must've brought me here after I passed out…'_

I lied there in silence a little more, until the door slowly opened up, and who stepped inside surprised me, a face I hadn't seen in years; Sakura Kanai no doubt about it. Just a reminder, Sakura was one of the first people to travel with me when I joined the Savior's and helped take down Annihilation. Back when we first met, Sakura told me she didn't really know what to do for a career and was often wandering the region to figure it out. She was the first person to join my small team helping me take down Annihilation and becoming a good friend.

Before we met, she attended a group counselling session with other young and older people which lasted for a few years because of their… unsettling past. You see, Sakura's stepfather was abusive to not just Sakura, but her mother only on rainy days developing a fear of the rain for Sakura at a young age. Over the years after our journey, Sakura is studying to work at a Pokemon center near her hometown. Despite her busy schedule, she still shows up from time to time to catch up and hang out.

She was wearing a black plain t-shirt, pants and boots, and a few bracelets around her wrist. However, despite her clothing changes from her usual attire the most notable thing that remained the same was her hair length still down to her shoulders. Although, from where I was lying in the bed still, it looked as though she grew taller in the past few years apart…

"Hey! You're awake!" Sakura walked up to my bed and sat at the foot of my bed smiling. "The doctors said you came to not too long ago. How are you feeling?"

"My body still hurts." I said noticing my throat slightly stung when I spoke, similar to that of a sore throat. "Both inside and out. It hurt like hell when I first woke up, like I was on fire or something, but I'm alright now. What happened to me?"

Sakura's smile faltered as she turned her head facing the floor. "Shiny Latias uh… s-she changed you, using some kind of serum she injected into you with while you were at Team Annihilation's HQ ruins."

"Y-yeah, I remember that." I remembered walking into that building in search of Shiny Latias. In the end of searching each and every floor of that building we could, we found Shiny Latias in the library when she attacked us. "But what do you mean she changed me? Am I okay?"

She slowly looked up at me briefly before handing me a mirror, but before she could pass it over she said, "This um… y-you're not scared or badly injured. What you see in the reflection, the doctors are doing everything they can to undo this, I'm sorry."

That made me anxious, it made me scared as to what Shiny Latias did to me with that injection. If I wasn't injured or badly scared then what was wrong with me? Reaching for the mirror with my hand and touching it grasping it firmly with… a paw, a black paw with three little digits as fingers. Slowly, I held up the mirror to my face and gasped at what I saw.

What surprised me in the reflection was not something I was expecting. In the mirror I expected to see at least heavily injured or burnt because of the pain I had felt before, but there was no injury anywhere on my body. In the reflection, I expected to see my slightly spiky black hair, a stubble I hadn't taken care of ever since my mission in Hoenn from last month, and my blue eyes staring back at me through the mirror… but none of that was present in the mirrors reflection. Instead what stared right back at me was a Dewott, same height as one, and same tuft of fur at the top of the head, and whiskers.

But there was something else odd about my new appearance; instead of the usual blue fur present on the head, upper body, arms and legs, my fur was white. My new eyes were the strangest part of my new change; my sclera wasn't white anymore, it was pitch black with red irises and a darker shade of red for pupils.

Holding out my paws out in front of me and staring at them, three fingers now instead of five. I moved them, stretched them and touched them… they were real; this was real and not a dream. I brushed the side of my face and lightly touched my whiskers. I wanted this to be a dream, a dream I could wake up from and find myself in… the same bed but normal body.

"I-I'll uh… I'll go and find Professor Guard, let him know you're awake." She stood up and left the room, but not before turning at the door looking back at me while I still stared at my new appearance.

I lied back down on the bed letting my head rest against the soft pillow and stared directly up at the ceiling deep in thought. _"How did this happen to me? And why? Was it to do with that strange serum Shiny Latias injected me with that made me into a Dewott?"_ Touching the side of my neck exactly where the needle had pierced my skin I felt nothing. _"Why did she do this to me? I don't get it… she had the perfect opportunity to slice my neck and finish me off right then and there, but she didn't, she did this instead."_ I was tired and wanted to go to sleep without feeling a burning pain throughout my body, but at the same time I was still unsure how to cope with _this. _

I have to admit; at first I did feel a little uneasy on not having to wear any clothing anymore and had to walk around with only fur covering my body. But over time I got used to it continued on, and because of the fur being warm; it was as if I were wearing clothes like I did when I was human.

"_But why was I a white furred Dewott with black and red eyes instead of the usual blue furred and dark eyes a regular Dewott has?" _I thought, closing my eyes. _"And why did she do this to me? What possible reason does she have for turning me into a Pokemon? Does she plan on… selling me? No, that doesn't seem right. Experimental reasons? Was that the reason for this?"_

Suddenly, my thoughts came to an end when I felt something lean on the side of the bed. Opening my eyes again and turning to the side of the bed, I saw Latias staring right me with a big grin plastered on her face.

Latias has been my friends since I was a young boy. After hearing a loud crashing outside, we found the fence had been destroyed and a young Latias passed out near it. Carrying her inside and tending to her wounds from crashing into the fence we let her stay with us. She got along well with my mom Ayaka but not with me. Over time I had tried to play with her or get along with her, but nothing seemed to work. It had taken weeks and I gave up, but then one day after school a group of bullies from school ganged up and attacked me. Surprisingly, I was saved by Latias when she used her learnt Mist Ball at them scaring them off.

And ever since then we became best of friends. The day I left to join the Savior's, she followed after us and joined our team and helped us on our journey to defeat Team Annihilation. But as soon as we were face to face with Team Annihilation's leader; Juro, we found out that years ago, the reason Latias was outside crashed into the fence was because she ran away from them after her parents helped her escape and she once lived at their base as a test subject to control Pokemon. Latias when she was young had a controlling chip inserted into her head activated only when a phrase was spoken by an Annihilation member. That phrase was activated and Juro controlled Latias to attack me and leave me for dead. Afterwards when I had regained consciousness, I found myself cut up pretty bad and bleeding all over the floor, with my last amount of strength, me and Dewott made our way towards Juro to finish the mission and to defeat the leader of Annihilation once and for all.

As soon as we defeated Juro, Annihilation quickly fell and Unova was once again at peace. And as for Latias, members of the Savior's helped remove the chip from inside her head and she was back to normal, but her mental state was a different story, after the attack she felt so much guilt about the attack she stayed away from refusing to see the state I was in. But after a while she did come and in the end we made up and our friendship has been stronger than ever if not more.

Before I could say hi to her or move a muscle, Latias hugged me with both of her paws wrapped around my head from the pillow close to her chest/neck (in between I guess)

Expecting to hear her regular 'laaaa' or high pitched noise she always makes, she did something else; "Zack, are you feeling better?" I thought I was imagining things, or that I had gone insane, or that serum gave me some kind of side effect or something. "Zack?" She called out to me touching me with her paw against my shoulder. I couldn't understand what was happening, _'Why was Latias speaking? I mean speaking my language when she couldn't before.'_ I asked myself in my head combined with so many thoughts each trying to figure out why was this happening to me and what was going on, results; nothing.

"I thought i… I thought I was going to lose you. I was beginning to think you would never wake up. I was so frightened…" she sniffed, clutching me closer to her chest in a tight squeeze.

"Oooooh, so the cute girl was right after all. Zackary is awake" I didn't even need to guess who that was because of her voice. Espeon walked further inside the room and jumped up at the foot of the bed and tapped my foot with her paw. "Latias, let Zackary breathe at least. You'll probably crush his head from how tightly you are holding him like that." To bring you up to speed, Espeon is one of my friends and travels with me outside her Pokeball serving as both travelling companion and Pokemon translator, a feat both useful and helpful in many ways in the past. She can also speak human language and often joining in on human conversations.

"Sorry, I am just incredibly happy to see Zack alright again, after what my sister did to him." Latias said, releasing me from her tight grip. "I was afraid he wouldn't wake up… if he didn't, I would go on a quest on a search for my sister and exact my revenge."

"Yeah, good luck with that. Because while you are away, I Espeon shall watch over Zackary and eat nothing but nachos nonstop and totally eat burgers and fries from an original chain of restaurants and not almost identical to another worlds version; WcRonalds." Espeon said while smirking, lightly touching my tail beneath the bed sheets.

With Latias now joining in by talking, I assumed this was normal and Latias while I was unconscious was taught by Espeon or Gardevoir at some point. I was expecting Espeon to explain to me about why Latias wanted to learn the language and how the process of learning it went. But all I got was Espeon and only her talking to me and still translating everything Latias said to me or to her… she didn't know that I could understand her.

Hearing Latias speak, it was like she was speaking my language so clearly and so fluently that it was normal for her. Her voice was soft and unlike any other voice I had heard before… it was unique.

Both Pokemon looked and stared at me as I sat up on the bed ignoring the pain, staring at Latias for a little while then at Espeon, I didn't know who to talk to on how I could now understand Latias. "Espeon, I… I uh, I can think- I mean, I can understand Latias, y-yeah..." I didn't know how to word it. I wanted to say it as fast as I could and as clearly as I could, but all I got out was an awkward sentence.

"What? Y-you can understand me?" Latias' voice rose, leaning in very close towards me, her face lit up. I could only nod in response before she hugged me into another tight hug squealing with excitement and giggling loudly. "He can understand me. Espeon, he can understand me now!"

"Y-yeah!" I struggled to say, trying with what little strength I had left to push my face off of Latias' chest to breathe. "What happened to me?"

Espeon's ears drooped as she turned to Latias finally freeing me from her tight grip. Espeon cleared her throat "Shiny Latias injected you with something, you know this already. Then you collapsed not too long after the crazed bitch up upped and away out of the window of the library. We tried to fight her, prevent her from escaping, but then you were engulfed in a strange light."

"The light that engulfed you didn't last too long." Latias continued "It was only a few short seconds, and then it faded, and then we found you in your new form lying on the ground unconscious under a pile of your clothes."

"We're sorry Zackary, we were too slow to do anything… we failed to protect you." Espeon said sadly, gritting her teeth trying to hold back her tears I could see forming at her eyes.

"It's alright." I said. "You both did your best, I couldn't have asked for better. I'm just glad no one was hurt; with Shiny Latias' strength I was afraid she could've hurt you before I passed out and afterwards."

"So, you're awake I see." There standing at the doorway of my room was an elderly man I knew well; Professor Guard, wearing the same white lab coat he never seems to take off within or outside the Savior's building for a reason I never found out as to why. Underneath his coat was a white shirt and tie. Black pants and shoes both covered in oil. He was the Savior's lead member of the R&D (Research and Development) team tasked with creating new equipment for Savior members to use out in the field. He and I never spoke that much during my time at the Savior's, not that we didn't get along or didn't see eye to eye, he was too busy in his work and rarely ever came out of his workspace while I was out there trying to complete missions.

Ever since the downfall of Team Annihilation, he with Lee; another member of the Savior's that helps other Savior members while on missions with their Pokemon and help with what food they should eat and give us information on certain Pokemon if they are involved with a mission or two, sort out each and every file and document found within the base left over; lists of past and present members recruited over the years ranging as far back as almost at the start of Annihilation's start up year, blueprints of weaponry and electronic devices used for stealth missions. Even journals written by many members of Team Annihilation; how they felt about their leader, about their enemy, even how they lived amongst their co-workers, combined lasted years to read through them all.

"Sakura said he was already awake by the time she entered the scenes. So obviously, here we are to check up on Zackary." Espeon said, turning her head to get a look at the professor walking up to the side of the bed. "He also says he can understand Latias now."

"Fascinating!" The professor whispered in amazement, a smile across his face, a rare sight to be seen. "Not only had the transformation changed your psychical appearance, but it also granted you the ability to understand the language of Pokemon, perhaps even learn the moves of Pokemon… truly, this is fascinating."

"Why did this happen to me?" I asked. "Why did Shiny Latias do this to me?" Just as I had finished that sentence, the pain I had felt earlier had quickly returned. Closing my eyes and wincing out in pain shortly, I felt as if my body was on fire, inside and out.

"Ever since you came to us in this new form, had Espeon here tell us about Shiny Latias' return, we went through every folder and read through every document to check whether or not we could find out what it was she did to you since she was tied to Annihilation. And I believe we may have that information on what exactly happened to you." "But for now Zack, I want you to rest. Tomorrow we'll discuss this. Everyone, let's leave him to rest for today."

Both Professor Guard followed by Espeon leaving the room leaving me alone to rest. Before Latias left the room, she smiled at me and hugged me one last time. It was a lighter and softer hug unlike the previous tight hugs she gave me. "Get some rest Zack, I'll see you first thing in the morning. Later." And then she levitated out of the room leaving me now alone.

Tomorrow I would find out what Shiny Latias did to me, what this form was and perhaps why she did this. Lying back on the bed looking up at the white ceiling, I thought what tomorrow would bring. What kind of answers could these documents about this change give me; what it was originally meant to be, perhaps give me an answer as to why she did this, or maybe a way to undo this transformation and make me human again?

Tomorrow I would have those questions answered, that day I could only hope that that this form wasn't permanent and I would be back to original self soon.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

Zack turning into a Dewott was in the original version, but he wasn't a white Dewott in that. In the original, Zack was at home at the time of the transformation instead of the Saviors HQ and never left his home town.

**AN: And done, chapter 02 is up sometime later this week with chapter 03 up next week Thursday just like with the first story.**

**Feel free to leave a review or PM me if you want an OC to make an appearance in a future chapter. **

**So anyway, thanks for reading and hope you stick you around. And as always, until next time.**


	2. Chapter 2 Project Doom

Chapter 02 – Project Doom

* * *

****

**Castelia City – Savior's Medical**

The following morning I awoke to a startling surprise to see in my room; all of my Pokemon (even Golurk still unsure to this very day how it got through the door without the use of a Pokeball) was present in my room all staring at me in silence. I wasn't sure what time it was since visitor hours started at nine in the morning at the Savior's, looking out of the window and up at the sky I could see the run rise, so it might have been earlier than nine.

From the foot of my standing holing an open dictionary flicking through the pages was Gardevoir; a Pokemon with a strange obsession over dictionaries and collects any she comes across and stores them who knows where. We met her in Cerulean City inside a bus terminal; she was separated from her sister taken by the Anomalies. Like with Espeon, Gardevoir can speak human language with the help from her Psychic (I think it's that.)

Sitting at the foot of my bed were two Pokemon, one of the two oldest members of my first Pokemon team; Totodile and Bayleef. I first met Totodile at a beach near Accumula Town a day after I had left my home town Nuvema Town to join the Savior's. Totodile was part of a group of other Totodile's and Croconaw's, the leader; a Croconaw wanted to attack other groups to take over the beach, but Totodile was against this idea and wanted to settle for a peaceful way. The leader didn't like this idea of its own member disagreeing with it and saw it as Totodile wanting to challenge it for leadership. Totodile was exiled from its clan, but in the end it decided to team up with us.

Bayleef I met when she was still a Chikorita when we met in Nimbasa City, though she wasn't my official Pokemon at the time because originally she belonged to another trainer named Charles. Our mission was to escort Chikorita to Opelucid City to reunite her with her trainer. Once we arrived and met with Charles, Chikorita was reluctant to go back to her trainer, and then we realized why she didn't want to go back to him, Charles was abusive to her. So to stop him from taking her, we battled against him. And towards the end of the battle, Chikorita evolved into a Bayleef and won both the battle and her freedom.

Totodile and Bayleef after Annihilation was defeated become a couple and had children of their own; two Chikorita's. Ever since they hatched out of their egg, Totodile and Bayleef rarely ever come along on one or two of my missions, so being on the Savior's did mean your life was on the line every day. One day when back at the lab garden, I asked them with Espeon translating the conversation if they still wanted to go on missions with me, the two Pokemon wanted to stay at the gardens with their children until it was time for them to leave.

Next beside them obscuring the door with its large body and head almost touching the ceiling despite kneeling down was Golurk. Golurk once a Golett we met taking shelter from the rain inside a cave at Route eight alone after its friend a Mienfoo was killed by hunters years ago. Golett decided to travel with us after it wanted to know why it was here in this world knowing that Golett's can live a really long time, longer than humans. Towards the end of Annihilation's downfall, Golurk made the decision to tell stories of our adventures to tell to others, similar to how a Noctott from Golett's youth would tell it and Mienfoo stories. With the addition of titling everyone it talks to with either a mister or misses before saying their first name.

And sitting on the floor with her paw resting on the bed was Espeon with Dewott standing beside her. Dewott I first met in Nuvema Town's Laboratory when he was still an Oshawott as one of the three starters of the Unova region. We had our first Pokemon battle against two others joining the same day as mine, Henry and Heather two siblings travelling together to become champions. During our first battle, Oshawott already knew Razor Shell and defeated Henry and Heather's Pokemon winning us our first battle. Oshawott claimed that I was the one who taught him that move. During our adventures, Oshawott later evolved into a Dewott, but he was afraid of evolving into one because of his past. When he was young, he saw another Dewott kill a Houndoom in front of him scaring him, and he didn't want to become something like that.

After Annihilation was defeated, Dewott left the team to start a family with a female Meowstic he met at this P.C.T. (Pokemon Care Tour) that looked after trainers Pokemon allowing them to raise a family and helped with their young.

A year later, Dewott returned to the team to help us with the anomalies and against Infinite. When we entered Castelia City in the past we met a young Oshawott alone on the streets. But as would fate would have it, I would soon find out that this Oshawott was actually Dewott when he was younger, and the Dewott he saw when he was younger kill the Houndoom was himself because that same Houndoom was the one who killed his parents.

Because of the timeline being way too far apart than the time when I first met Oshawott at the lab when I first started out, we had to take him with us to Nuvema Town to ensure that my past self would meet with this Oshawott.

And there resting her head on the bed near my pillow was Latias resting her head on top of her paws looking at me with a somewhat worried expression on her face.

"My goodness!" Gardevoir gasped, flicking through the pages of her dictionary in search of a word. "This is surprising; I don't know which of the hundreds of words from my dictionary to point out to about how I am processing all of this. It's the first time I am seeing this and I am still lost for words!"

"Uh Gardevoir, you where there at the time when he turned into a Pokemon." Espeon sighed, smiling at Gardevoir as she shrugged at Espeon quickly flicking through the pages.

"Mr Zack, how are you feeling?" Golurk asked, its voice slightly loud as it echoed room. Oh right, the way Pokemon speak is similar to how humans talk. Instead of hearing Pokemon make high pitched noises or say the first/last part of their names, I understand it as if they were speaking human language. It was… strange hearing my Pokemon speaks and understanding them without having to rely on translations from Espeon or guess, just one of many things I had to get used to.

"I'm okay now. My body inside and out hurt really badly before, but it's gone now." I replied stretching out my fingers trying to get the hang of them at least until I was back to normal.

"We were worried about you after the transformation turned you into a Dewott." Dewott said, now pointing up at Latias. "Latias carried you while Gardevoir, Espeon and I carried your clothing and items bag to find help. Man, we were all scared of an ambush by Shiny Latias or someone else."

"Ah, awake I see!" And then the professor walking in with Sakura following closely behind with a folder full of documents of what I was, why this exists.

* * *

Sitting down on chairs beside my bed were Sakura and Professor Guard, a folder in hand as he opened it to remove many sheets and he began.

"Several years before Annihilation fell, Juro decided to create a quick backup should Annihilation fall to the enemy, a team of powerful soldiers to counter the enemy, a team which consisted on several members of Team Annihilation's finest. The project they created was called 'Project Doom' a team with eight planned leaders of humans turned Pokemon with unique powers each different than the last." Professor Guard turned the page to reveal a datasheet about the transformations of several records of humans attempting to become one of the eight leaders of project doom. Only seven out of the two hundred had succeeded, while the rest became the first of many creatures known as the reanimated corpses we fought almost four years ago when Annihilation were still a thing.

"We believe that this serum Shiny Latias injected into you was indeed the very same serum Annihilation created to turn humans into Pokemon. Now we don't know why she injected you the serum or how she got a sample of it, but what we do know is that serum has a very high unsuccessful count of those chosen for project doom, and those that are successful are… transformed." He said gesturing with his hand towards me.

Professor Guard turned to the next page handing the previous pages to Sakura reading them. "Those that weren't successful became the first of those zombie-like monsters you and your friends fought against a few years back, or the beta versions of them. But before they became reanimated corpses, there earlier stages were… let's just say their faces were unrecognizable, with their bodies twisting and merging with another limb, made them look like monsters. You could've died if the transformation had failed, you're lucky to be alive, breathing and without suffering any organs failing on you."

"However, we did find something about what this serum does for those who are successful in the transformation; one, there lifespan is up to 200 years minus the years they have lived. So, you are going to be around for a really long time." He chuckled, trying to make light of the situation. "And second; it has been reported that whatever Pokemon the subject transforms into, Pikachu, Poliwhirl, etcetera, would learn different moves that Pokemon cannot learn."

"And third…" He paused and glanced over at Sakura staring back at him before turning towards me. "From the reports we have read about Project Doom… after the transformation has been complete, it can never be undone."

I froze up; I didn't know what to say at that or how to act. Sad, anger, perhaps both? And yet I felt nothing, I was lost. I didn't want to be a Pokemon, I just wanted to be human again, I wanted everything to be as it once was. It felt like all of this was just a really long dream, one I would wake up from any moment now, but it wasn't a dream, this was my reality now.

"I'm sorry kid; I wish I could do more." I heard the professor say as he walked out of the room along with Sakura. My Pokemon continued to stay and cheer me up as best as they could throughout the last remaining hours of the early morning.

I read each word and each page from the Project Doom folder one after the other for hours leading into the night searching desperately for information missed, maybe even a way I could become human again. When I had finally finished reading, I found nothing but only what I was told. I turned my head to face the other side of the room, my Pokemon were gone and I was left alone. I didn't know what to do, I felt empty inside, lost and tired.

I didn't know what to think about first out of the many things I had learnt; I could never become human again, my life would end when I reached the age of two hundred, why Shiny Latias did this to me. _"She could've killed me, she had her claws against my throat, why did she inject me with this?"_ I thought, closing my eyes. _"Was she hoping the transformation would fail, killing me by transforming me into a pre reanimated corpse? Then why did she turn and flee out of the window? Maybe she knew it wouldn't fail, then why?"_

'Why?' a question I had asked many times for weeks being stuck in that hospital bed without an answer given.

Then came the day I was finally allowed out of this bed and I could go anywhere I wanted. The first thing I wanted to do was go back home and relax. Be in a location I was familiar with and I guess think about things, mostly about these new changes I would have to get use to, even if it took a while.

* * *

****

**Home – My Room**

After an hour ride back with Sakura travelling with me to check in on her Pokemon at the lab garden, together with Espeon and Latias levitating closely we walked back to my home. Arriving back home, I was hugged by my mom Ayaka and sister Yuri before I could even reach the porch of the house. After the hug without uttering a single word I walked inside the house, upstairs, and opened the door of my room.

Entering my room and shutting the door behind me, I stopped and stared at the contents of my room for the first time in months with a new perceptive of things; clothing that I couldn't wear again, books and boxes stored high up on shelves, a rotating chair in front of a desk with a computer on top all that would obviously require adjustments to use, and my bed, with me being a lot smaller than I was before the change, I found the larger sized bed better and more roomier than before, so no complaints there.

However, all of the changes had to take some time on getting used to; weeks, months? I'm not sure how long it took for me to get used to this new form; a smaller body, a tail, three fingers instead of five.

Two hundred years, an extended life on this planet. Thinking back to what that old lady told me in that tower during the time travel mission, she told me I would watch as my friends and family died while I remained powerless to stop any of it. _"Was this what she meant?"_ I thought as I managed to climb up on the bed and lie down resting my head on the pillow.

But it wasn't, it was something else I would find out very soon. And if I had known, perhaps none of this might have never happened.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

This chapter was originally meant to be set within a dream Zack was having with Shiny Latias talking to him revealing to him what he was and why she changed him into a Pokemon.

**AN: And so the first two chapters are uploaded. I gotta say it is good to be back after a month away. I will try to upload a chapter every week on Thursdays, if not then every two weeks.**

**So, thank you for reading and hope you stick around.**

**Until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3 Back Home

Chapter 03 - Back Home 

* * *

**Nuvema Town – Laboratory Gardens – Espeon's POV**

Ah the beloved gardens of… the lab, (or whatever it's called) truly a place for us Pokemon to relax on the soft grass, play with others and eat a good many variety of Pokefood and fruit to enjoy for all Pokemon… except me that is cause of one reason; it is boring here!

After years of travelling with Zackary and friends across timeline, to different cities and different regions, each one of those things had something different to them. Care to guess what that is? All of them were different. Being cooped up in this garden of endless grass, a giant lake in the center and a few dozen rocks and flowers here and there and you have clearly seen everything this garden has to offer. Maybe I had gotten used to that lifestyle; TV, movies, pizza, WC Ronalds totally original brand and not a parody, and the soft beds I liked sleeping in instead of the dang old floor. I could easily sneak out of this garden and head over to Zackary's house and crash on the couch instead of being stuck here, but I didn't. I figured Zackary just needed some time alone after what happened, so did everyone else at first.

It had been four days since Zackary was given the news that he couldn't be human again, returning home and staying in his room since then. I felt bad for the guy, life flipped turned upside down by encountering an evil coward hiding in the ruins of a failure of an evil group.

Ever since Zackary woke up and this and that happened, he had always wanted to know as to why 'Shiny Bitch' injected him with that doom stuff instead of kill him. He was wide open for an attack by her to do so, why didn't she take it?

"So uh, any word from Zack since?" Gardevoir said, still reading from her boring dictionary for like the thousandth time this week. "I'm worried about him. I don't won't to lose my friend to this state of isolation he is in."

Dewott shook his head, leaning against a tree Zackary's Pokemon liked to hang out since the other good spots of this garden were already taken by other trainer's Pokemon "He hasn't said much or left his room ever since we got back. Never seen Zack like this before…" And so we just sat there together all thinking about what we could do or say to help Zackary be his usual self again. Walking into his room and hanging out with him? Nah, he needed to get out of that room. And so I opened my mouth to speak about the amazing plan to the others…

"How about hangs out with us at the garden?" Latias spoke up from the top of a tree branch stealing my idea. Yeah, that branch would easily snap due to her weight if she wasn't assisted with levitate… ugh! "Being cooped up in that room for the past four days isn't good. He should get some fresh air and… play with us, if he wants to."

"Welp, I guess I'll go and check up on Zackary, try and get him to come over here." I sighed, standing up with a little stretch. Before I began to run towards the fence to hop over it, I looked up at Latias staring at her paw for a good while, like something was there or whatever. "Latias, you're coming too."

"I'll stay here and figure out from the help of my book here how we can help Zack." Gardevoir said, lowering her dictionary to her lap with a big smile. "With the power of the dictionary, I am certain I can find a way!"

"Yeah, don't work too hard." I sighed, rolling my eyes at how exactly a dictionary would help in this situation. Gardevoir was surly going to be there for a long time, a really long time. Well enough of that boring Pokemon, onto the more important business.

Leaving the garden with Latias levitating quickly behind me, we passed the gawking eyes of the citizens of Nuvema Town acting as though they had never seen a Latias before. Or they were so amazed by me and Latias was seen only as second prize material.

I had walked/ran through the streets of Nuvema Town many times before often going on supply runs for Zackary's family to the nearby store to pick up an item or two knowing the shortest and fastest way of traversing the streets like the back of my paw. So getting to Zackary's house knowing these streets would take about ten minutes of nonstop running. And of course nonstop questions from Latias… ugh.

"Espeon?" Latias asked levitating above me careful enough not to fly into any bystanders still standing and gawking at obviously me. "What if Zack doesn't want to come with us? What if he'll never like his usual self again? What if Zack will want to stay in his room forever, refusing to see us again? Why do you think my stupid sister did this to him? Where is the nearest bonfire to refill my flasks? Why am I asking so many questions? Why is the sky blue? Why isn't the Pokemon Regigigas in this story? Blah, blah, blah, blah!" Okay, so I obviously made that part up for comedic affect, but in truth the first question was the real one, so here is my response.

"I'm pretty sure he would love to have some company, we are his friends. Staying cooped up inside that room for the past four days eating pizza while playing video games nonstop isn't good for one's health. The sight of us with a little nudging and he'll be sighing in defeat in no time."

* * *

****

**Zackary's Home**

Opening the front door with help from Latias' paw and walking inside we saw Zackary's mom Ayaka standing there in front of us to greet us, as if she knew we were coming. "Hello you two, it's been a while since I saw you both." She smiled, stroking Latias' neck as she cooed into Ayaka's chest. "Are you here to see Zack? How about you take him with you to the lab garden and play together? He'll defiantly love to hang out with you."

"Sure, that's what we are here for." I smiled, making my way up the stairs followed by Latias who looked a lot happier than she was when we were at the garden before.

"Yep, defiantly the reason." Latias called back to Ayaka with a big smile, but unlike me and Gardevoir, Ayaka could not understand Latias' high pitch squeals and regular 'Laaa's' she makes, so it was up to us two to translate for her. But I didn't this time, not everything needs to be translated, and I am pretty sure Ayaka got what Latias was saying.

Entering Zackary's room now thanks to Latias' paws again, we saw him sitting on his desktop chair reading from a website about myths and rumors of humans turning into Pokemon. Perhaps he was trying to find out more about this Doom serum, poor guy.

"Hey." He said, his face still facing the computer screen, scrolling down the page for more information.

"Hi Zack. What are you looking at?" Latias smiled, levitating quickly up to him and giving him a quick hug.

"Stories and reports of people actually witnessing other people; friends, family, or bystanders turning into Pokemon… but all of them are fake and not a single one of them legit…" He sighed before closing the page leaving his desktop left on screen, a simple still image of a city skyline from the Johto region at night.

"Zack…" Latias said with a gentle voice, not wanting to upset Zack anymore than he was by bringing up her sister for like the hundredth time every time she comes up here with me or another to talk with him. "How about you come with us to the lab gardens? The others are waiting for you there, and I am sure we'll all have a lot of fun as long as we have our favorite trainer with us." She giggled before placing her paws on Zackary's shoulders. "Please?"

Zackary sighed, raising both of his paws up to his face. "I… ever since I turned into this, I have been anxious to go out, be seen by others.

"What do you mean?" I asked, standing beside his chair now noticing how he was sitting on his tail.

"A white Dewott, black sclera and red eyes? And to top it off, that Dewott; me was once a human? I have been anxious at how people would react at the sight of me; probably try to catch me or attract the attention of the unwanted, risking my friends and family's lives perhaps."

Leaning up at his chair and placing a paw on his lap I told him. "Zackary, fuck the gawking idiots, you shouldn't worry about them. Look, you got me; a powerful Espeon capable of ordering Pizza by phone, Dewott with an excellent mastery of the scalchops capable of taking down multiple enemies without breaking a sweat. Then there's Gardevoir with her boring as watching paint dry dictionary talk. Totodile with his water dance, Bayleef with her leaf slicing action going on, Golurk with its powerful rock hard muscles and awesome strength."

"What about me?" Latias asked pointing at herself with both of her claws. "How cool am I and what am I capable of?"

"Oh, let's not forget about you!" I said before returning my attention to Zackary. "What I am saying here Zackary is that you shouldn't worry about things like that. You got us here with you by your side, so many friends willing to stand by you and fight alongside you no matter the odds or how tough an enemy may be. If any so-called dangerous new team or annoying wannabe tough guy approaches we'll handle 'em together, and not just us Pokemon, but LisaLisa, Bent and the rest of the Savior gang."

Zackary turned to me for a while before turning to Latias in silence. He shut off his computer and just as soon as he began to smile, Latias moved in and hugged him as he laughed, something we haven't heard Zackary do in so long, it was like we got the old Zackary back. "You're right." He said, his voice slightly muffled with his face pressed against Latias' chest. "I'm sorry for worrying you guys."

"It's alright Zack." Latias smiled letting Zackary breathe. "Do you want to come outside with us to the lab garden? It'll be fun!" He smiled and got up from his seat, but before we got to the door of the room Latias scooped him off the floor and decided to carry him all the way to the garden, Zackary didn't seem to mind having to be carried all the way over there. From the way Latias was carrying him like that, it was kind've similar in a way trainers carry their Pokemon in their arms, but Latias isn't a Pokemon carrying- Whatever, I'm bad at describing examples.

We got the old Zackary again. I know I said it once before, but it was good seeing him smile again instead of seeing him all gloomy and tired looking ever since we got back home. Our plan today was to spend time with Zackary and get him up and about, smiling a lot more and probably getting out there to maybe rejoining the Savior's and find out finally what that meeting with his boss; Clark Stone was about and why it was urgent.

I guess Zackary forgot about that since he never contacted them once or brought it up ever since he woke up and while he was away from them. Or I guess this whole Dewott changing thingy and Shiny Latias' injecting him with the Doom serum was on his mind. It would probably be on my mind if I were turned into a different species or type if it were one of my enemies.

So our next destination we would be arriving soon was the beloved gardens of the lab, a place for us Pokemon to relax on the soft grass, play with others and eat a good many variety of Pokefood and fruit to enjoy for all Pokemon… but with Zackary now with us, this place wouldn't be so boring.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

The story of Zack turning into a dewott was in the original version but his lifespan wasn't 200, it was a normal humans lifespan.


	4. Chapter 4 Friends

Chapter 04 – Friends

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – Laboratory**

Standing right outside this building after Latias put me down brought back a lot of memories from when I was fourteen years old starting out on my career as a Savior's member. This was the place I received Oshawott now a Dewott… it's been a long time since I came here, like stepping back to a memory of that day.

When I first got here on that early morning, way too early for the lab to open and I had to wait outside for a while before the professor of this laboratory; Juniper, an old friend of my mom.

Now entering the laboratory reception area I saw the professor crouched down putting a set of folders into a few boxes stacked together side by side, it only took her a short while for her to notice us enter. "Ah, Zack Raines, it's so good to see you again." She smiled, still crouched at the boxes setting down the remaining folders on top of one of the boxes. "We never see you around the lab this often, is something up?"

"No, everything is fine I just wanted to come and see my Pokemon." I replied standing in front of her now, looking at the boxes and files she was busy with. "Do you need some help with those boxes?"

She smiled "No, I alright this time. But as for your Pokemon, they are out back in the garden by the tree. You can stay as long as you want, just let me know when you want to take out a Pokemon or two, or when you decide to go home." She chuckled before returning to sort out the folders into the boxes.

It felt the same when I opened the door leading us out and into the garden of the lab, a place where so many Pokemon of many shapes, sizes and many types could get some fresh air, to play, or to train with one another in a friendly sparing match. But now as a Pokemon, I saw more; Pokemon from different trainers speaking to one another of past battles and places been, friendly conversations and gossiping like how I would hear people out in public. It felt as though I could fit in well here amongst them, I felt happier knowing that this whole change might not be so bad after all.

Espeon hoped on ahead towards the tree I could see on top of the small hill my Pokemon made as their hangout spot, from what I was told it was Totodile and Bayleef to choose this spot, or actually it was win it in a friendly sparing match against another group of Pokemon wanting to claim the hill as their own hangout.

It was Totodile and Bayleef against two other Pokemon; a Sudowoodo I have seen walk around the garden many times before, and a Bellsprout. The battle didn't last long, however it was close for both Pokemon since Bellsprout had used Poison Gas at the start of the battle which affected both Totodile and Bayleef. Quickly, Totodile and Bayleef finished off the other two Pokemon ending the match, but in the end they decided to share the tree not just for them, but for other Pokemon wanting to stay up there on the hill beside the tree wanting it to be shared with and not owned.

"And then I said 'If ya wanted to be a clown then ya should go look in a mirror'" Dewott laughed obnoxiously loud at his own joke, attracting the attention of other Pokemon nearby. No one else laughed at his joke staring at one another waiting for Dewott to stop with his seemingly nonstop laugh.

"That was the worst joke ever told in the history of ever. Feel bad!" Espeon sighed rolling her eyes. "And seriously, did you have to laugh like that? Almost deafened me…"

"Hey! It was funny at the time I told it. And to let you know, I told Meowstic my joke and she loved it."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she did." Espeon said sounding unconvinced as she used her Psychic to hand me and everyone else an Oran berry from a basket full of other berries. "Anyway, it's lunch time. So let's kick back and eat some fresh berries the professor gave us."

Everyone else started to eat their own berry while I just stared at it in my paw wandering what it may taste like having never before tried a berry before my transformation into a Pokemon. Watching how the others ate their berry, it was either eating it whole or taking a bite out of it and chewing it. From the looks of all of them they looked as though they enjoyed it even going back for seconds or by some their thirds. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this berry or if I could even eat it, so with a little gulp I opened my mouth and moved the berry up to my mouth and bit down tearing off a small amount of flesh some of its juices dripped down my chest fur. When I tasted it finally, I paused. The berry, it was sweet and really delicious with a slight sour taste to it. But the taste wasn't the only thing I noticed, it was its effects I noticed after swallowing, it was like I had drank some good coffee immediately making me feeling more awake than I was before.

After I had finished with the Oran berry I was about to grab another out of the small basket, but then I noticed the other many berries of different types amongst the Oran berries; a Pecha berry, a Leppa berry, a Tamato berry, and a Persim berry Gardevoir seemed to eat more of than the rest.

Grabbing the Pecha berry this time and holding it up to my nose sniffing it catching a pleasant smell from it, a sweet scent mixed with spices most likely from the Tamato berries and one that of an apple. Because of its small size I ate it whole and crunched down on it letting the sweet juices drip onto my tongue, it was delicious.

"So Zackary, did you find a berry from the basket you like so far?" Espeon asked before throwing one of the berries into her mouth swallowing it quickly after. "I grabbed as much as I could from the professor to put in the basket, so if you don't like any berries here you'll be glad to know we have plenty of different berries or Pokeblock's back at the lab or fruit if you want."

"I like the Oran and the Pecha berry, they are both very nice. I haven't picked a favorite yet. But I would like to try more of them."

"That's great!" Espeon exclaimed. "Hey Gardevoir, give Zackary some of those Persim berry instead of hogging them all to yourself."

"For your information, I was randomly grabbing any berry out of the basket. For me to grab those berries was just by random chance. So I am NOT hogging any berry!" Gardevoir said sounding angrier than I have ever heard. After using her Psychic to hand me the berry basket, she picked up her dictionary and continued to read.

Picking up the Persim berry and eating it, I noticed that I was a lot harder to crunch down on compared to the other softer berries. It was nice in taste, but the 'hardness' of the berry did hurt my new teeth. So Persim berries were pushed to the side until my teeth fully cured.

"Persim berries are cool, huh?" Espeon asked with a smile. "From what I hear about Persim berries, they absorb energy from sunlight. And since I am an Espeon; the sun Pokemon, we are kind of similar; lilac fur for Espeon's, and a somewhat similar color for the berry. And above all else; we love the sun; Praise the sun… game reference hint, hint."

"You know, I have been thinking." Latias began as she looked at me. "If Zack is a Pokemon now, does that mean he can use moves and learn them? Professor Guard did mention something along the lines like: 'Doom' members once a Pokemon using moves that weren't their own. The professor also mentioned that he was a Water/Psychic type before we left the Savior's a few days ago.

"That would be pretty cool if Zack could use moves. How about we have a little training session some time, eh Zack?" Totodile asked. I could only nod at that because my mind was elsewhere, something along the lines of 'What moves could I learn?' and 'How would I control these moves?'

I didn't want to hurt anybody, so I defiantly needed training at some point in time. At that moment in time I guess you could say I was too lazy to even start, just trying to take things one at a time within a few short steps I could take.

"Oh goodie!" Espeon beamed again. "Another Psychic on the team. We have the following against the enemy; Me, Latias, Zackary… and Gardevoir… then again you'll most likely be bench warmer since you'll be reading from your precious dictionary.

"That's great!" Latias smiled as she began to playfully nudge me with her head. "We'll be a stronger team at the Savior's no doubt, right Zack?"

Smiling, I petted Latias' head, stroking down on her long neck and listening in to the others as they spoke to one another. But one thing I didn't mention or bring up when Latias mentioned the Savior's to the rest of my Pokemon was about my future with them as a member of the Savior's. Ever since I had returned home I had thought about my career within the Savior's, wandering if my new permanent form would be somehow seen as ridiculous or maybe even a laughing stock, a white Dewott with red and black eyes, surely some people out there would attempt to catch me, Savior member or not if I am out in the field. _'Maybe a new line of work was waiting for me down the path of my future'_ I thought. _'Perhaps I could become an instructor teaching young recruits. I am at the qualified rank to do that. Or maybe it would be best if I just sit in an office and type on a computer day after day just to make a living.'_

* * *

****

**Five hours later**

With the sun almost setting and most of the other Pokemon on the field now retired for the day, I was sitting on the grass with only one other; Sakura Kanai, she had stayed within the town to spend time with her Pokemon she deposited while still studying to become a Pokemon nurse, Minccino her oldest and first Pokemon companion, her second Pokemon was a Marill and often stayed inside her own Pokeball, and lastly was Salamence, a shy Pokemon often staying close to Sakura whenever possible. Her three Pokemon were now resting inside the lab leaving us with a good chance to catch up on the latest.

"I spoke to Isaac three days ago. He told me he was on his way over here and should be arriving in two weeks for the festival." Sakura said. The festival Sakura brought up was of course like the name suggested it was a festival happening in Nuvema town in celebration of a legendary Pokemon that saved many people trapped inside a burning hospital saving many lives young and old. That all happened three hundred years ago, and like every year rain or shine the townsfolk would gather in the town square, and enjoy the many different of activities one could find, eat delicious food and dancing to music.

But every time the festival had reached its end, there was always an amazing firework display with a vast range of colors, patterns and Pokemon I recognized… I almost forgot about it.

"That's great." I smiled, turning my attention to the setting sun. "It has been forever since the last time all three of us where together."

"Almost three years since, only this time we are not on a mission or fighting against an evil organization with our lives on the line every day almost." She chuckled. "I'm glad"

"So, what have you been up to? Ya know, after Annihilation's downfall, your time studying at the college, you must have a lot of stories to tell."

"There there are some I could tell you. Well, ever since we last saw one another you obviously know I enrolled at the college to train to become a nurse at a center. But what you don't know are the crazy things me and my friends got up to while there." Sakura smiled in silence leaving me waiting for her to continue.

"Such as?" I asked smiling with her.

"Well for starters; when I first enrolled like many didn't have any friends or people to talk to, I was nervous and often shied away from large crowds and groups thinking the latter would find me boring or laugh at me. Thoughts like that were present during the first week and I really thought I wouldn't fit in. But you know what kept me going?" She asked, I shook my head and let her continue. "It was the thought of you and Isaac, like the two of you where with me making me feel as if I weren't alone. I remembered the times we had together, working side by side to defeat an enemy or to get something done. So I broke the silence and bravely spoke to other students working together on a project, and you know what? In the end we became such good friends, all it took was for me to go for it without worrying."

"But another thing I enjoy is the classes I attend with my friends. Not only do we have fun in them and the teachers are nice, but I also learn so much out of each class and feel as" She sighed. "It was like I was truly meant to be there. Soon I'll graduate and hopefully I can become a nurse at a center near my hometown where my mom works."

"Once you do become a nurse, how about I come over and be your first customer? I mean with my other Pokemon, not me!" I asked nervously not trying to sound as if I wanted to be treated by her in a suggestion sort of way rather than actual heal up from injuries… you get what I mean.

We both laughed and continued to watch the sun almost setting over the mountains. The laboratory closed at five in the afternoon and many Pokemon except ours ended their conversations and playtime as they walked into the lab to retire for the day. It wouldn't be too long for us to get going as well.

"Do you know how I found out about your transformation?" Sakura asked, again I shook my head. "It was Espeon who told me over the phone about you. Never having meeting her prior before, and hearing her speak caught me by surprise not understanding who or what she wanted. Then she told me she had found my contact details within the Savior records on people you trusted. Espeon told me what had happened to you and if I could come over. She contacted other people you knew, but most were too busy to come. Those that couldn't did send their respects and cards hoping you would wake up. Even two people named 'Bent Jackson' and LisaLisa Rivers?"

"They are my friends, they are Savior members from different regions, we travelled together across time. Right now they are currently in missions in their own home regions. I understand they couldn't make it." I wasn't mad or disappointed with my friends not being here after everything. It was true that they were busy elsewhere on missions, they did send their regards by cards and their many letters they sent me, letting me know how they are trying to come over to Unova to see me. "Were you busy before you came here?"

Lisa shook her head. "No, I was just finishing up my work before our long break begins away from college. Espeon called, so here I am." She lightly nudged me with her arm. "So until the others arrive, let's have fun while we can."

"Like what did you have in mind, Sakura?" I asked interested to see were this was going.

"How 'bout we have…um, how does a party sound? You, me, our Pokemon and your family get together at your place, dance to music and order a truckload of pizza?"

"A party? What's the occasion?"

"Just to have fun." She said giving me a little wink. "After this nonstop work I had been doing for the past couple of months, all most pulling in a few one nighters just to finish an assignment or two, I believe we need to kick back, relax and have fun with like I said before; 'a truckload of pizza' and listening to tunes we can all agree on."

"You're right." I nodded a little, agreeing with her. It has been a long time (for me at least) since I had a break. "I'll get my Pokemon together and ask my mom if we can have a party over at my house. I'm pretty she'll say yes and then we can listen and dance to music we can all agree on, relax and have fun, and because of my years of hard work within the Savior's and all of the money I have saved, I can order enough pizza to fit in a large truck."

* * *

****

**Espeon's POV**

Professor Jupiter called every Pokemon back into the lab ending the day for us. I stayed at the lab that night with the others to talk with them some more about what we should do tomorrow for our part two; 'Zack Hanging Out Funzapalooza Day' (It's a work in title) So our next after the planning was play by the lake of the lab garden, maybe even help Zackary test out his moves and help him learn more.

Finally at the door of the lab and looking back at Zackary and Sakura leave the garden back home, I smiled. Today I saw the usual, happy and cheerful Zackary I know and love, sure he still acts a little down at times, but today was the start of classic Zackary returning to us. Excited for tomorrow, I happily turned towards the door to enter.

But before I entered the lab, I noticed Latias had remained on the hill sitting alone beside the tree watching as Zackary left until he was out of sight. In fact, she had been there nearly all day just in silence without uttering a word most of the time glancing over at Zackary. I assumed it was nothing and it was just Latias watching her old friend leave and so I waited at the door for Latias to come on over and end the day.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

This is the only chapter within the 'Dreams' series that was based on a chapter from the original story.


	5. Chapter 5 Night of the festival

**AN: Here is chapter 5 for you guys. Taking a really big step with this one, so i hope you like it.**

Chapter 05 - Night of the festival

* * *

**Nuvema Town – Ton Square**

The sun was about to set and the festival was about to being. A festival that comes once every year, on the same day, the same month and in the same town like the many years before it. Hundreds of Nuvema town's citizens got together at the town square, food and drink stalls as well as the attractions were all set up and the music began to play.

Today like many in this small town, the festival was just another festival for them to enjoy. But for a small amount like me… this was the start of something new, something I wasn't prepared for.

"I guess you could say I was acting pretty stupid when we entered that Dragonite den thinking I could persuade it to let us search the den knowing full well how territorial Dragonite's are." Isaac chuckled as he reminisced about his past few years searching for an herb he could never find. "Let's just say are expensive jackets and equipment are now history."

Isaac Anderson, a nineteen years, short blonde hair and wearing normal clothing this time rather than the Black City School uniform he wore during out travels hailing from Black City of the Unova region. He joined the team with Sakura and I back when Annihilation were still a thing passed out in the desert resort wanting to help a family of Sandile's locked up by hunters. We learnt that Isaac could understand Pokemon speech and was able to communicate with them acting as the translator of the group before Espeon took over a year later.

Isaac had told us he was trying to earn enough money to help with his girlfriend Juliet for a heart operation back in Black City, and every time he mentioned her, he would say it in a way as if she were still alive.

Over the course of our travels together, we learnt Isaac was in search of a rare herb once taken allowed a human to be able to understand the language of Pokemon, something his great grandmother discovered long ago and brought and stored many back to her home town passing it down to her daughter and then the gift onto Isaac. Isaac wanted to share this herb with the rest of the world, but one night thieves had attempted to rob the house only ending up set in flames.

All of the herbs stored inside the house were destroyed in the fire, but that wasn't the only thing that was lost, Isaac's grandmother had died protecting both Isaac and his Pokemon Shinx.

Towards the end of our travels, we learnt that Isaac's girlfriend Juliet had died, but Isaac refused for so long to believe it to be true earning and saving up money, travelling throughout the region for nothing.

After Annihilation's defeat, Isaac travelled back to his home city and accepted her death and moved on. Ever since then, he has searched throughout every region in search for the herbs his great grandmother found for the whole world to share.

"So afterwards when the cops arrived asking us why all of our equipment and clothing were almost torn up, I told them; 'We are just searching this area for a rare herb around this region said to give whoever shall ingest it unique abilities that may allow us to communicate with Pokemon.' And boy did they believe we were talking about a different kind of herb if ya know what I mean."

Isaac had finished setting up the first table of food while I helped set up the tables with plastic cutlery and napkins. Whenever the festival came ever year I would do the same thing, it seemed like the easiest job to do and well… I was lazy and wanted to do some easy jobs instead of doing some heavy lifting.

"Did your great-grandmother leave anything behind?" I asked him. "Like some kind of clue in a journal, photos or anything?"

Isaac shook his head as he walked to the next table to set up the food trays. "Nothing like that because of the fire. I only have my grandmother's stories to go by; about the effects of the herb, six large leaves the size of one's palm, and it gave off a strange aroma… mint or something similar, but never where this herb can be found or what region she searched, only that she found the herb and brought some back home with her."

"But you know, I know it seems like finding a needle in a haystack searching region to region without knowing where to start looking, but if my great-grandmother found the herbs, I believe I can find them." Isaac finished setting up the trays on the table letting me start on setting up the cutlery and napkins. "My great-grandmother wanted to share the herbs with the rest of the world; and herb that allows a person to understand any Pokemon. I want to find the herbs and help finish what she started. I know I can find it"

Isaac really seemed determined to find this herb wherever it may be, and nothing was going to stop him on his search.

An herb that allows people to understand Pokemon… I would've liked to have tried it if he ever did find the herb, but now that I am a Pokemon and can already understand them now, all I could do now was watch everyone else take this herb. I was hopeful Isaac would find these herbs, but I was also concerned that his search for the herbs was nothing but fruitless. It also reminded me way back when we first met; Isaac was travelling the region to earn enough money for Juliet's heart operation refusing to come to terms that she had died; he would've been wandering the Unova region for a long time no doubt if we never met him at the Desert resort. I hoped that didn't happen with the search for the herbs wandering each region, I had hoped Isaac would find it soon and that this search wouldn't be a waste.

* * *

**Espeon's POV**

I was helping the people of this town set up things for the festival starting soon. I didn't really like this festival all too much, not that I have anything against festivals or celebrations; it was the people in the neighborhood randomly setting off fireworks late into the night after midnight waking me up from my much needed sleep. Sure, New Year's Day had people setting off fireworks some time after midnight and I could cope with that, but these people… set off the dang fireworks earlier or some other reasonable time, morons!

I said 'I' was helping the people set up for the festival since Latias was sitting at the side of a building attempting to untangle a set of wires with lights attached to them, she had been at this for an hour now.

"Ya know, anyone and their mother could easily untangle a set of wires, so you are obviously trying to get out on helping out or something's up." I said, sitting down beside Latias. "So, care to tell me why it is taking you this long, or is there something else on your mind?"

She levitated the tangled wires back into the small box resting her head on her paws, and sighed. "I just feel… *sighs* I don't know… lost I guess."

"Meaning?" I asked raising a nonexistent eye brow everyone can plainly see, rarely hearing Latias sound like… this; now she was talking like Zackary now.

"I… I don't know why I feel like this, I just do. It's been like this for a few weeks now." Latias lifted up her head and stared at the sky as a flock of Pidove's flew over us. "And every time I try to ignore it, the more it comes back but worse than before, I don't know... maybe it's just some silly little thing, like I was homesick… or whatever it's called. Cause, travelling around from region to region without coming back home for so long, it's like this place is just another location and not my real home, if that makes any sense."

"Latias," I said placing my paw on her paw. "Hey, it's alright. In no time you'll be your old classic Latias self. All you need to do is watch that Latias TV show of yours, eat some marshmallows and after a few seasons later you'll be fine."

"But I did that when I got here…" she shook her head and buried her head beneath her paws. "In Zack's house… but every time I tried to talk to him… all over his body…" Latias began to shiver, she started to cry. "I could see his scars I gave to him!"

I was about to ask her what she meant by her giving him scars until I remembered a year before I met up with Zackary, when he and his friends fought against Team Annihilation, Latias was under control by Juro who had implanted her with some kind of mind controlling chip when she was young. Juro managed to trap Zackary and Dewott into a large room and ordered her to attack Zackary hurting him really badly, ended up with multiple deep scars across his torso and legs. Seeing Zackary without any clothing on because he is a Pokemon and they don't wear clothing and you could easily see his scars.

"But I… every time I look at h-him I…" She said sniffing into her paws, refusing to look up at me. "Whenever I see those scars I am reminded of what I did to him, when I was controlled by Juro, I hurt him… I hurt Zack… I almost killed him." I was told what had happened before I showed about how Annihilation was defeated for good; even how Latias was controlled by Juro (What the heck kinda name is Juro anyway?) and how Zackary was almost killed because of it. All this time I thought she had moved on from it, that she got over it, I never realized the past was still haunting her still.

"Latias," I said placing a paw on her cheek in a romantic way (only in my mind at least, hah!) "Zackary is your friend, he doesn't hate you. Look, I have travelled with you guys for a really long time. Sure I wasn't around for the early year, and I wasn't around when you and Zackary were young, but I can say this truthfully; Zackary doesn't hate you, he loves you, and no controlling chip or bad guy will change that." Latias wiped her tears from her eyes and her face brightened up a lot more. "You should go and talk to him and tell him how you feel."

"I… but I'm scared."

"Don't be." I said, hearing off to the side of us the townsfolk had finally finished up setting up for the festival. "It's only Zackary you are talking to and not some stranger, he's your friend and you're his, just him and you alone without a translator this time. Let it all out."

There have been times when Latias had wanted to speak to Zackary back when he was still a human, but most of it was requests on what food he would like to have from the kitchen or store, never a long conversation. Throughout their early lives it was just guessing what Latias was saying through charades, then by Issac's and my translation towards the teen years having rarely start a conversation with one another, and now they could finally speak with one another without barriers or obstacles between them.

I knew Latias was holding something back from me, but I couldn't figure it out at the time and trying to push it out of her right then and there knowing how sensitive she can be sometimes I left her alone whatever it was, she could ask anytime.

With the cheering came the fireworks lit up and blew up in the sky killing the Pidove's that flew by before (okay, that part didn't happen) but it did spook them and other Pokemon living in or around Nuvema Town though. Within a matter of minutes, the line for getting some food at the food table would be massive and the attractions full and the dance floor filled with many (_bad_) dancers. Yep, this sure was a memorable day.

* * *

**Nuvema Town – Streets**

People had gathered in the streets with their Pokemon, their families, and friends all wanting to participate in the attractions, dancing to the music, or watching the fireworks at a bench or an open field lying on the grass.

Sakura and Isaac got together and spent the remaining night together to enjoy the festival, they weren't in a relationship, they were just friends.

I remember thinking right then and there about a time when I was young, a time when I with my mom, my sister Yuri, and Latias together at the festival… with Henry, my dad. He was rarely around when I was growing up, only showing up like once a month or two.

He worked in Nimbasa City at a large company, some kind of office job I think, and yet he was always there every day, every week and every month stopping by to say hi and catch up on what he has missed since he was gone. I never questioned to my mom as to why he was always gone and why me and Yuri rarely saw him. I grew up thinking this was normal behaviour. I wasn't sure why I was thinking about that… maybe it was my first festival here.

My mom was sitting with Professor Juniper and two other women she often talked to at bench near to the food stall with a line of almost forty people or more.

Yuri was dancing with several of her friends to the music playing, in a few weeks she would be leaving town to go to an art school within the Hoenn region with her friends, but not before choosing one of three Pokemon from Juniper's Laboratory before leaving with her eyes for years now already set on Tepig.

My Pokemon; Espeon, Dewott and his mate Meowstic were eating a plateful of cookies underneath a bench, flinching from time to time at a loud firework. Golurk, Totodile and Bayleef with their young were lying on the grass together looking up at the night sky cheering as each firework exploded anticipating the next set.

Isaac's Pokemon; Yamask, Growlithe, and Ampharos were sitting on the grass besides Sakura's Pokemon; Minccino, Marill, and Salamence where all sitting with a bored expression on their faces as Gardevoir was sitting beside them while reading to them a page from her dictionary.

I walked up to Sakura and Isaac playing the ring toss, one of the many attractions set up for the festival. The prizes were plushies of a Pikachu, a standard larger Pokeball the size of an actual Pikachu, and a Skitty keychain Sakura had her eyes set upon.

"C'mon Isaac, you got this!" Sakura was cheering Isaac on attempting to throw a small ring out of the nine other rings he had left around the neck of the many bottles stacked neatly beside one another.

"Argh!" He grunted, missing with each shot one after the other to get small ring around the neck of the glass bottle. Some bounced off the top of the bottle flying off elsewhere while others almost made it, but ended up falling off leaving Isaac back with less rings hoping that the next one would score. "Darn! I almost got that one."

"Last shot Isaac, you can do it!" Sakura cheered again earning a slight smirk on his face. Isaac aimed at the bottle in the middle of the stack with a steady hand and waited before throwing the ring. He threw the plastic ring at the bottle, but Isaac threw the ring to slow and it landed just beneath the stack of bottles, he had lost. "O-oh, wanna try again?" She asked placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I would, but I ain't got anymore cash on me." He sighed before placing his hands inside his jacket pockets. Sakura glanced back over at the Skitty keychain and sighed in defeat. It came to knowledge at some point a week ago that Sakura had started off a small collection of keychain's last year; a collection of every single Pokemon she could find. A collection totalling an amazing number of… three. 'I'll get there someday.' She told me after telling me how many she had already collected.

Ever since Isaac showed up and reunited with Sakura and I, he asked if we wanted to join as a team again like old times sake, but this time instead of a life threatening mission again, this time we would help him search for the herb within the Unova region until we had to go our separate ways again; Sakura with her nurse training, and me with the Savior's.

We had to think about it of course, but both of us were leaning on saying yes and packing our stuff with our Pokemon and searching wherever we thought would be the best place to start.

Walking up to Gardevoir and the other Pokemon listening in or pretending to listen in on her. Stopping right outside their small circle, Gardevoir had finished explaining the meaning of the word 'Vision' "Isn't that exciting?" She asked the already bored Pokemon with a massive happy grin on her face. "And you can discover so much more by purchasing you own book or from your local library to discover so many words and meanings. Truly; this books deserves the title of 'Book of the Year'" she lightly hugged her book close to her chest, kissing the spine while ignoring the groans of the Pokemon wanting to find something else to do instead of being around Gardevoir.

I had listened in to Gardevoir's reading sessions in the past and I can clearly say up to this point; I know every word in the dictionary because of how many times I had heard her explain them to me before.

Her sessions… they weren't exactly boring so to speak. Not only did I learn the meaning of certain words but I also learnt pronunciations of words I hadn't heard before. We had fun together reading the dictionary (a few pages for me, the rest for Gardevoir) but because of the fireworks, I had trouble focusing on what she was reading from the dictionary and more on the explosions above.

My sister Yuri was still dancing with her friends to the music playing loud, almost drowning out the explosions from the fireworks. She was leaving soon and we rarely spent time together. Ever since I returned and hung out with my Pokemon at the lab, I rarely ever spoke to her or did anything with her, and when we were young we did a lot together. After the festival, I wanted to do something with her, something fun we can both enjoy. Perhaps movie night like we used to when we were younger, maybe going out to town or maybe bowling.

So I let her be with her friends and walked until I saw my mom talking with her friends on a bench. My mom quit her job in Accumula Town last year to work at a bakery here in Nuvema town with one of her friends. Although she earns less at the bakery than her previous job, it allows her more time to spend at home with Yuri. Since finding out Yuri would be leaving soon she is planning on baking a farewell cake for her with help from her friend.

Walking up to Espeon, Dewott and Meowstic underneath a table eating a plateful of cookies, they noticed me and gestured me to come over and join them underneath the table.

"Hey Zackary, enjoying the festival are you?" Espeon asked before taking a cookie from the plate with her Psychic and placing it in her mouth crunching on it.

"I sure am." I said nodding while also taking a cookie from the plate ready for a continuous eating of delicious cookies… it was stale, thus ending the so-called continuous eating of said cookies. "Didn't your children come out today?" I asked noticing Dewott's and Meowstic's two daughters weren't here; they usually did whenever the festival started.

"Not tonight, no." Meowstic shook her head, holding Dewott's paw. "They wanted to stay inside the lab with their friends this time. So that gives us time to be with each other."

"And to announce the good news we recently discovered." He added, nuzzling Meowstic as she nuzzled him. "Meowstic is pregnant."

"Woooooo! Dewott and Meowstic gettin' busy!" Espeon smiled, winking at the two together in each other's arms. "Congrats you two! So, does this mean you're going to stay at the lab instead of joining us on our next quest/mission/trip?"

Dewott nodded, wrapping his arm around Meowstic's shoulder as she leaned in close to him. "Yes. I have been away for too long away from my family. I want to be here when the egg hatches, and being with our child as it grows." Dewott looked up at me as asked. "Zack, if it's alright with you, could I please stay here."

"Of course you can stay." I said with a smile. "Stay as long as you want, family comes first, right?" He smiled back and thanked me.

After Infinite was defeated and after our vacation was over, work began again and Dewott hardly ever saw his family, something I overlooked and regret not paying attention to. I was so caught up on my dream to reach the top and become a rank 01 that I acted selfish. With every mission I completed, I gained closer and closer on reaching the next rank. And ever since then, I had always asked if they wanted to go with me instead of just bringing them along. Being back here in Nuvema Town after so long would be good for them; they can rest up for a good while, for all of them. But then I realized something was… off about the festival, it was missing someone.

"Hey uh, where is Latias?" I asked noticing I hadn't seen Latias since this afternoon, I would usually see her at the festival with the other Pokemon, but strangely not this time.

"Oh right." "Earlier before just after I had finished setting up the decorations for the festival, Latias was leaving. I stopped her and asked where she was going; she told me she was going towards that massive hill that overlooks the town almost. You know, where that big tree is? Kinda hard to miss that sight." And she was right; the tree on the hill was hard to miss. The hill was at the edge of town just near the river at the southwest of the town. From the center of town you could clearly see it from there. "She said something along the lines of 'Sad' and 'Feeling confused about stuff' I don't know."

"I will go and talk to her." I said climbing out from underneath the table and walked out of central and towards the path I knew would take me to the hill where Latias would be.

* * *

**Nuvema Town – The Hill**

Walking up the path that would take me directly towards the top of the hill at the edge of town, I thought about what Espeon had told me, how Latias was feeling sad and confused about things, I was worried for her and I had to go and find her.

I don't remember much about this hill, or if I climbed up it during my younger years or if any event ever happened here. All I know is that this hill the largest in the town one could clearly see from the streets below.

Finally making my way through the bushes and into the clearing, I finally made it up to the top of the hill to find Latias lying down beside the large tree with her head looking up at the starry night sky, or the fireworks.

When I took a few steps closer to her, Latias quickly turned her head facing me. "Z-Zack, I… How long have you been there?" She gasped, surprised at my sudden appearance. I stepped forward closing the gap between until I was face to face with her, and I noticed her eyes, she had been crying. I sat down beside her watching while the sky or the town below… whatever caught my interest. But my real reason was to talk to her, why she was feeling sad.

"I just got here." I said turning my eyes to get a look at her. "Why are up here? Don't you want to come down and join the others? If we go now we can still get ourselves something to eat at the food stall before they run out." I didn't want to be too forward about it, I wanted Latias to tell me.

"I… just wanted to… I wanted to think about things." She said sighing, lowering her head down onto the grass. "Well, for starters; my parents… I was wandering if they were to see me now, would they be proud of me?"

"Of course they would be proud of you." I said, placing my paw on her neck stroking her. "Latias, you have done so much. You helped save a lot of people and Pokemon over the years. They would be proud at what you have done."

"But… with Annihilation when that man, Juro controlled me to attack you, you almost bled to death, I almost killed you…" I saw a tear roll down her cheek; Latias used her paws to cover her eyes in attempt to hide her face. "Why would they be proud of something like that?"

I didn't know Latias still had that on her mind. After Annihilation was defeated for good and I was at the medical floor in the Savior's when Latias came to visit, I told her it wasn't her who hurt me; she could never hurt me. If I had known she hadn't gotten over that day, I would've talked to her more, to help her. But I just assumed she had forgotten about it and moved on, but she didn't. I didn't know why she didn't tell me about it when Espeon was around, perhaps she was afraid of what she would think of her.

She looked up at me for a short moment before looking down at my chest. "Do they still bother you? Y-your s-scars." I looked down at my chest, exactly where Latias was looking. There was a large scar, slightly visible thanks to the white fur on my chest. I had multiple scars on my torso, legs, arms, and one small one just under my lower left jaw

"Latias," I said, now stroking the top of her head almost touching her ear. "They don't bother me, but seeing you like this does." She removed her paws away from her face and opened her eyes now facing me. "It wasn't your fault. Juro was controlling you by a chip he implanted into your head when you were young. I know you would never hurt me. I don't blame you for what happened or hate you. You're still my friend, and nothing will change that."

Latias wiped her eyes and smiled. "R-really?"

"Really." I replied, leaning in closing the gap between us and hugged her with Latias hugging me back. Her sadness had quickly faded away replaced by her cheerful self almost. We were about to head back and join the others to participate in the attractions or get ourselves some food the festival still had to offer, but the fireworks and the view of the entire town up here was what locked us here. We must've been up there for hours.

The fireworks had ended signalling the end of the festival, so the only thing we did then was sit and admire the view of the town under the starry sky.

"Do you remember this place?" Latias asked breaking the silence, I shook my head not knowing what she meant by that. "When we were young, we used to come up here together until the sun had set before returning home. It was our little hangout spot after school or during the summer for a while." I still shook my head. I didn't recall ever coming up here with Latias on this hill when we were younger. But I was only eight at the time we first met, so why couldn't I remember much about that time? Maybe this change from human to Pokemon must've messed with my brain a little.

"We stayed up here, we played together, and we used to watch this." She pointed at the mountains in the distance. "If you recall when we were younger, I was once sick for nearly two weeks. Then after that we stopped coming up here, I don't know why." I wish I did remember our time up there on the hill, I could only imagine what it was like, what we did together. All I had to go by were the stories Latias told, the events she remembered well of us playing together and things we talked about, or it was me who would talk and Latias would listen since because we obviously couldn't communicate with one another because of our difference in species and our language.

"Well, how about we continue what we left?" I suggested to Latias wanting to make this hill feel more… I don't know, special to us I guess. This hill, it obviously meant a lot to her, a lot of good memories happened here and I wanted a lot more to happen, maybe even involve more of our friends here instead of the garden, a place just for us.

"I'd like that very much. Thank you, Zack." She smiled, attempting to hide her face as she began to blush. "Oh my." We laughed together and continued to stay together and enjoy the sight in front of us for another hour or perhaps longer, time here on the hill felt as if it didn't matter, that we could enjoy ourselves, talk to each other for a long time without worry.

Things were going well, Latias had finally calmed down, she was cheerful again and we talked long after the festival had ended. I asked Latias if she had wanted to come with us when Isaac along with Sakura would search the Unova region for the herb he had been searching for a long time, she agreed to it, but not before spending more time up on the hill first before leaving again.

But that night something happened, something I had not expected would ever happen, something that both shocked and surprised me, as well as many of feelings.

Since the talk began between us, I thought this night would end with us walking back to either the lab or back home to retire for the night. But nothing could have prepared me for what had happened.

As I was talking about going back to the Savior's soon to talk with Clark about what he had wanted to talk with me before I turned into a Dewott, with a quick turn faster than anything I had seen… Latias moved in close towards me, and she kissed me.

To be continued...

* * *

**Trivia**

:

This chapter was in the original story, except the kissing part.

**AN: And so chapter 05 has been finished with chapter 06 on the way very soon. If you'd like, feel free to PM me if you want one of your characters to appear within a future chapter with the details of said character, I'm down for that.**

**So Latias has just kissed Zack in this chapter, what comes next will be completely new for me to write, so I have got my hands full with a challenge I thought would come later.**

**So anyway guys, until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6 Tell me why

Chapter 06 - Tell me why 

* * *

**Nuvema Town – Streets – Espeon's POV**

The festival went off without a hitch; all of the food had been taken, the attractions shut off and stored away in some old warehouse who knows where or cares, and all of the drunken bastards stumbling off on home awaiting a hangover the next morning. Yep, tonight was a… eh it was fine, nothing too memorable.

I was walking back home/lab with Gardevoir talking non-stop about how great her beloved dictionary is and how it should always win the book of the year awards or something, one of many things I had learnt to zone out after hearing her talk countless times about her precious dictionary.

"Oh and this word; 'Extraordinary' such a beautiful word, one of the best words to describe this book and its contents within." She hummed, hugging the book as she was spinning around as we made our way back to the lab, slowly… with Gardevoir… I wish she talked about something else for once other than what we already know of that dictionary. "You know what would really be cool, Espeon? A festival about dictionaries! A 'Dictionary Festival!' " She cheered at the top of her lungs.

"_Yeah, and population; 'you'"_ I thought to myself almost laughing at how ridiculous that sounded. 'Dictionary festival' I mean, what sane person would ever go to something like that?

"And let us not forget this divine word 'Horizon'…" She stopped spinning in place and sighed. "Hearing that word almost makes my heart melt." Stopping in the streets to look back at Gardevoir watching her twirl around a lot made me think back to the day we first met. Zackary never mentioned it, but after we got back to Pewter City she told us about how her sister and herself danced a lot when they were younger. Her sister liked to dance and wanted Gardevoir to join with her as a dancer for some street performance… I don't know it never really got into detail on what she wanted out of all of this. Gardevoir would dance a lot from time to time, she was a good dancer I'll have to admit and I thought it was something she would try to go for a potential future opportunity or some other job a Pokemon can get in this world. But Gardevoir was way too interested in her dictionary collection to care about pursuing down a dancing path, it's quite a shame, Gardevoir was a good dancer.

In the direction behind Gardevoir's dancing I noticed the massive hill at the edge of town where Latias said she would be and Zackary had gone to see her. I expected them back ages ago to join us for the last remaining hours of the festival, winning a prize or two at the so-called hard to win claw machines all thanks to my Psychic power, or dancing with Yuri and friends.

They must've gone home already and didn't have time for the festival. I had hoped they were alright and nothing shocking or maybe something awkward had happened between the two.

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – The Hill**

I was shocked, surprised along with multiple feelings all crammed together freezing me in place unsure how to act, Latias was kissing me. It wasn't on my cheek like she had done in the past but it was on the lips. Yeah, that has never happened to me before; kissed by anyone or a Pokemon for that matter, never on the lips so this caught me completely off guard.

During the duration of the kiss, Latias held my head with her paw gently at the back of my head, her eyes were shut but from where I was standing and help from the moonlight I could see she was blushing and tears leaked from her eyes, and that's when she pulled away from me with a loud gasp.

Staring at me with her eyes wide open she got up and levitated away from me towards the forest behind us. "I-I'm sorry." She muttered before flying away from me quickly and into the forest leaving me alone, still shocked and surprised at what just happened.

I ran after her through the forest, I wanted to check up on her or more importantly I wanted to talk to her. I ran as fast as I could through the forest in the same direction she ran off into hoping I could catch up with her before I lost her. I must've run for a long time, so long I was probably past the edge of Nuvema Town. I finally stopped when I reached a river, not because I was out of breath by then, but I had found her lying besides the river crying.

She hadn't noticed me yet, but I didn't know how to approach her after what happened. 'Hey Latias, so why did ya kiss me?' and 'So… about before.' Or 'Is something the matter?'I didn't know which one to use and had hoped I could have more time to think about it, until Latias had finally realized I was standing behind her.

Jerking her head up at the sight of me, I feared she would get up and run away again. Because of her speed and my tiny legs I wouldn't be able to keep up with her. I quickly told her, "Wait! Please I-I just want to talk. Please don't go." She stayed just like I wanted her to, so all I had to do now was talk, about the kiss and… hmm, I guess that's it. But to do that, I had to push the words out of my mouth without sounding awkward about it.

"Um… about that kiss…" Oh boy. "What was… that uh… hmm."

"Um…. W-well i…" Latias muttered, fidgeting with her claws while she turned towards the river watching a lone leaf float through the river. "I don't know… I guess…"

"'I guess' what is it?" I stepped a little closer towards her, but not too close not wanting to make her feel comfortable. "Latias, it's only me you can tell me anything."

"I wanted to- I mean…" She sighed before turning her head, but her eyes were still fixed on the leaf, until it flowed down stream, she shut her eyes. "B-because i… l-love you." She stared at me for a brief moment before turning away with a audible gasp.

Silence followed and again like with the kiss seemed as though time itself had stopped. Before I spoke to her, I didn't even know what I was going to say to her, now was the same.

"'_Love you'?"_ I thought finally breaking the silence (well in my mind at least.) _"D-did I hear that right? Okay… what do I do here? Do I just nod and smile? Talk to her about… I don't know, where do I even go with this?"_ Yeah, I was clueless at this, never happened before.

After what seemed like hours passed in silence, Latias broke the silence and spoke through a crackling voice. "I-I uh… I wanted to say it to you for a long time now. But you know I couldn't speak your language or get Espeon to translate for me; it would be far too embarrassing for me to say anything like that in front of her or anyone else listening in." She turned her head back in the direction of the river. "B-but when you turned into a Dewott I-I thought maybe I could explain how I felt to you without any barriers between us…"

'_This is a little uh, what's the best word I should use to describe this? Odd? Strange?'_ I thought. _'I never knew Latias felt this way about me…'_

"Y-you love me?" I asked still sounding unsure about this.

"Yes, ever since we were young." She said with a small quick nod, still refusing to look me in the eye. "After everything we have been through together, the many places we have seen, the many things we have done together. I thought what I was feeling that it was just a simple crush, b-but I…I felt something I haven't felt before."

I was about to ask why she didn't tell me before, but I stopped myself after realizing she had already told me why she couldn't tell me how she felt after all this time; Espeon, others finding this out, and judging I guess.

I could tell from her voice that she was telling the truth, she really did mean that. After working with the Savior's for all these years I could easily tell a person from an honest one to one who tells lies here and there. Hearing this confection did surprise me the most I believe and it also helped me understand how she was feeling.

"I-if you'd like… um, do you want to, uh…" She stuttered a little. "Would you like to uh, hang out with me sometime soon?" She gasped again and shook her head uttering under her breath 'No, that's not what I wanted to say!'

"S-sure" I don't know why I agreed to it that quickly without thinking about it more. This was Latias and not some human girl, she was a Pokemon, and I was a hu- but I wasn't one. What was I?

Again, there was silence in the forest. Latias was staring at me with a small smile spread across her face. What would her reaction have been like if I had said no or… *sighs* I don't know.

"It's getting late." I said looking up at the night sky. "How about we head back and we'll pick this up again soon."

"T-thank you, Zack." She levitated herself up towards me and gave me a quick hug. "I do want to talk more about this. Thank you for listening to me."

Together, we walked back to the hill, back into town and walked back home together. Latias flew back to the laboratory while I walked home alone leaving me to my thoughts on what had just happened. A part of me wanted to go back to Latias and ask to call it off and tell her how this was a mistake, but another part of me was in the section of to 'just do it' part.

I am not sure why I agreed to it; perhaps it was an impulse just to get this over with or that I felt bad about her and wanted to do something to cheer her up, or maybe… maybe I really did feel something for Latias. We have been friends for a long time; maybe this date soon won't be all that bad.

But there was a problem that hit me; I didn't know if what I was doing was right. Relationships like this are often frowned upon by many, I was afraid of that. Thinking about it then, I was worried about what kind of relationship I could get into with my new form, what would be acceptable? Human women… but people who don't know me or that I was once a human will only see me; a random Dewott in a relationship with a woman, like any other couple you see on the streets, this would be seen as disgusting to the public. But me; a Dewott and a Latias, two Pokemon, many who don't know me; this would be seen as normal. But those who do know me, when I was human… how would they react? I could only imagine.

Was what I was doing with Latias, what we agreed to… was this right?

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

Latias in the original story kissed Zack in his room during the festival and not on the hill. The hill was in the original but only appeared at the end of the story as a random location and not an important one.


	7. Chapter 7 The Conversation

Chapter 07 – The Conversation

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – Zack's Room**

Still laying on top of my bed an hour after waking from sleep I stared at the ceiling wandering on what I should do today with Latias. Last night she kissed me and told me that she loved me, words and actions that repeated throughout my mind before I slept, I didn't know how to handle this, I didn't know if what I was doing was right or wrong.

After transformed into a Dewott I never considered asking the question on what species I could get into a relationship with; human, the species I was born as, or a Pokemon, something that I had happened to me by a Shiny Latias using some kind of needle filled with serum on me.

I didn't want to be seen as… weird or disgusting on who or what I wanted to be with; I wanted to be normal, I was afraid. And I didn't know what to do.

I turned to face the room looking at my bookcase full of books almost half I hadn't read yet, the desk where my computer was set up on, my wardrobe full of all of my clothes now considered useless to me because of my new size and form, and draw beside my bed full of collectables and cards I had obtained over the years. _'I guess I won't be needing clothes anymore. Guess I'll donate them or something…' _With my fur covering my entire body, it felt as though I were wearing warm clothing already, but still, my lower part of my body… walking around made everything feel all akward and stuff… yeah, it took a good long while to get used to it….

Latias was waiting at the lab so we can talk about what she had said last night, but I didn't know how to approach that. I felt lost and confused not knowing if what I was doing was the right or the wrong thing.

But one question that echo in my mind was one I hadn't even considered; did I really love her in the same way she loved me? I didn't know. _'She's a pokemon, she my friend… and I was once a human, it wouldn't work.'_ I thought shutting my eyes as tight as I could. _'But I'm a Pokemon now… this shouldn't be wrong. But it's too weird…'_ I opened my eyes and quickly hopped up off the bed and walked over to my door left slightly open, because of my height I wouldn't reach the door handle easily so I just left it open to save time.

As I walked to the bathroom and washed my face with cold water, I looked at the mirror, at my reflection staring back at me. I was a Pokemon now, never to be human again. The more I thought about it, our talk with Latias this afternoon about what had happened yesterday it didn't seem too bad. Latias wasn't a bad Pokemon or a cruel one, she was nice and kind. It wasn't as though I were meeting up with a complete stranger soon, so I guess that made it a little better. I would just simply walk on up to the lab and speak with her like the friends we are… and then the conversation would begin.

'_Maybe I could try and evade it or prolong it somehow…_' I thought letting the water drip off my cold wet face and into the sink. _'Maybe it'll help me find out what exactly I will say to her.'_

But the more I tried to think about what I was going to say to her, I felt a lot nervous than I was before. I didn't want our conversation to be awkward; I just wanted our conversation to be straight to the point and understanding for the both of us. But the tricky part was to get from point 'A' to point 'B', something I guessed would take roughly an hour, or less if I wasn't so nervous about it.

Walking out of the bathroom and downstairs (climbing down in my case because of my size) I found myself in the kitchen and grabbed myself a quick snack to eat before heading out to the lab. I was nervous, I hadn't been this nervous since the day I left my home town to join the Savior's when I was 14. I would be going to the lab the same way I left home to get my first ever Pokemon before leaving home. _'How did I get through all of that? And how do I do it now?_' I thought before taking a bite out of a sandwich mom prepared for me before she left for work an hour earlier just when I woke up.

Standing there in the kitchen in silence with a now half eaten sandwich, I thought back to when I actually did leave my hometown hoping I could actually remember how I did get through my nervousness, I believe it was knowing the fact that soon I would finally be a Savior member and told myself that I could do it… I think. So in this situation with me and Latias, I had hoped it would be the same, this conversation would lead to everything being alright again.

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – Laboratory Entrance**

The laboratory today was crowded this time with so many people waiting outside mostly children no younger than 10, they were all here to come choose their starter Pokemon just as soon as the lab opened. I made sure to stick behind the large crowd not to draw out any attention to me, and I didn't want any of them trying to catch me, I couldn't protect myself if they tried since I had no moves of my own. Because of my fur, eye color and ability to speak I would most likely be auctioned off and sold to the highest bidder, or researched on by scientists baffled at how a human was turned into a Pokemon by something Annihilation had created.

I sat and hid behind a car at the small parking lot close to the entrance of the lab and not to close near the crowd and waited a few more minutes until the lab was open, and then I could just walk in and head towards the back to the garden without attracting any attention.

Sometime soon I would have to learn moves I could learn to protect myself and my friends, I couldn't just wander this town or the outside without knowing something to prevent capture or against wild Pokemon if I end up on their territory.

To cure my boredom which lasted for a good hour before the lab finally opened, I looked up at the sky and watched the clouds. I saw a cloud which resembled a tree similar to the one up on the hill, a man wearing some large crooked hat, and a flower. Watching the clouds reminded me of the times I used to watch the clouds in the back yard with Latias when we were young. She pointed up at the clouds with her claw trying to explain to me what she saw, but all I could do because I couldn't understand her at the time, so all I did was smile and try to figure it out (70ish percent of the time) at what she saw.

'_Maybe I could, I don't know try it again at the garden to ease things up before the talk… at least the grass at the garden is nice to rest on, that could help.'_ Watching the clouds would be a good start to this, probably followed by quick snack or two before we talk. Earlier I thought about walking up to the garden and meeting Latias and just getting it over with instead of wanting to ease things up between us, to make things a little easy. Arriving at the lab early helped me plan what I wanted to do before our talk, not about the talk… kind of.

* * *

****

**Laboratory – Garden - Gardevoir's POV**

Ah, what a morning to be alive, the fresh air, the beautiful green soft grass, the blue sky with the hot sun I'm pretty sure Espeon is enjoying… but nothing can beat the beauty that is the thick and slightly heavy year 2000 limited edition dictionary with golden metallic edges around the sides, the title 'Dictionary' engraved in the same gold as the edges in the center. Oh my gosh the pages are so smooth to the touch, so clean that would make any dictionary fanatic explode, and-

(A note from Espeon: Gardevoir's pointless section of the story was cut short because of two following reasons: Nonstop dictionary talk. And second, it just didn't seem to go anywhere else other than pointless dictionary talk. So we have no idea how she managed to convince us to tell her 'important' part of the story.)

* * *

****

**Same area as before – Dewott's POV**

Gardevoir was admiring one of her many dictionaries, cradling it within her arms, ignoring all of the stares from passing Pokemon heading out into the garden to play.

She would be sitting there next to the door to the lab for hours reading that thing over and over again until one of us brought her out of her trance to join with us over at the tree. Sure I could just drag her with me to the others, but last time I tried doing so ended with me being thrown in the trashcan because Gardevoir claimed I was trying to 'murder' her dictionary… so today I'll just let her read here alone and join up with the others since Zack would be coming over again. This time all of us would be having a little adventure throughout the garden in search of buried treasure. No need for shovels since we had Golurk's large hands to dig the dirt out from the ground.

I was standing and waiting at the entrance to the garden for the others to join us on the treasure hunt soon. Totodile and Bayleef walked out of the lab and into the garden with their children to join in on our treasure hunt. Espeon yawning as she walked out to meet with the other with my daughters with her; one walking alongside her, and the other on her back laughing as she flicked the pointy part of my fur on top of my head. Meowstic decided to stay inside the lab to rest up today because she wasn't feeling too well. It was just a headache and nothing too serious. Since she was already in her early stages of pregnancy I wanted her to relax and not do anything too hard. I asked if she wanted me to stay and to give her some company, but she told me to go out and play with our daughters, she would be fine inside giving her a chance to spend time with her friends; an Audino owned by another trainer I had never met before. A Pikachu, also owned by another trainer, this time I had met her trainer before only once. She was an elderly woman who lived in Nuvema Town. I didn't know much about her or what she did for a career, but she did make some cookies for her Pikachu and a few others. Meowstic managed to get on for me and our children. Gotta say, the cookies were really delicious. I wished she stopped by more with those cookies. And finally Sakura's Pokemon Marill and Minccino, who I introduced to Meowstic when we first got to the lab, they have been best friends ever since.

And lastly was Latias levitating out of the lab, but stopped as she turned towards me. "Dewott? I won't be joining with you guys on the treasure hunt today, I'm meeting up with Zack today…" I was a little disappointed that Zack and Latias would not be participating in on our treasure hunt we had already planned a few days before the festival, setting up the map and buried treasure. I guess they wanted to spend time with one another, and that was fine with me.

"Oh that's too bad. Well if you two finish up early you can come and join us. We'll probably be having this treasure hunt for a couple of hours no doubt. You two have fun then." I replied with a smile at how Latias seemed a lot happier than a few days ago. Espeon told me last night about how Latias was feeling down and lost, Espeon told Zack this and the two talked last night, perhaps this was a continuation of that talk today, so we wouldn't bother them.

Watching Latias levitate happily out into the garden, I smiled again as I walked out towards the others to start off our treasure hunt.

* * *

****

**Laboratory Garden**

Finally after what seemed like years had passed since the kiss wandering what to say to her after, the anticipation of what today could bring, I was here standing in the garden waiting for Latias to appear so we can talk. I thought I knew what to say to her, I thought planning it beforehand could help me prepare myself for what was to come. But I didn't know. All I could do now was try and prolong the conversation as long as I could hoping the correct words to say to her without sounding too awkward between us could come soon.

"Hiya Zack! Glad you could make it." Latias cheered behind me, a bright smile consumed her face. Latias wasn't stuttering or acting nervous this time. I assumed like what I was going through last night was trying to figure out what we were going to say to one another, Latias had already figured it out and was acting all calm and ready to being with the conversation I wasn't prepared for.

"Uh, yeah." I said staring into her eyes waiting in silence for her to speak, or anything to happen. 'I better do it now, I'm not ready yet. I just need to buy myself some time by doing something quiet like cloud watching, and then I'll probably think of something then. Better do it now before the conversation begins.' I thought, time itself had seemed to stop all of a sudden.

"Here, why don't we lie down right here and watch the clouds. Pretty sure we can find a lot more clouds to see from this angle of the ground." I said softly offering her a space on the grass to watch the clouds. She lies down on the grass spreading her wings beside her, gesturing with her paw for me to lie down beside her.

"Zack, look at that one! Doesn't it look like an Espeon?" She said excitedly, pointing with her claw at a cloud which did in a way resemble an Espeon. It looked as though it were sitting down. The body was correct, an almost split tail and the round head and ears, with the exception of the whiskers and limbs.

"Yeah it does."

"Ooh! And that right next to it on the left kinda looks like a car if you adjust your head a little bit to the right." I moved my head slightly while looking up at the sky at the cloud Latias pointed to. It didn't look like a car from original position; it kinda looked like an ordinary rectangular box and nothing more to it. But when I turned my head at the right angle, that's when I saw the cloud, it did look like a car. So she was beating me by two already, I had to be quick. Quickly angling my head back to normal, I searched the sky for more cloud formations I could make out. During the span of our cloud watching game, I found the following in no particular order; a pineapple with a triangle cut in the center of it, a flower with no petals… or a mop in Latias' view, and some kind of paintbrush. So that left me with a total of three formations found within the span of an hour of searching and enjoying each other's company underneath the warm orange sun.

After what I assumed hours had passed since the cloud watching game we played, we lie there together just watching the sky in silence. The conversation between us was now starting, and I couldn't come up with anything good to say to her, it was blank. We sat up and turned to face one another, and our conversation began.

"Zack, you must've been thinking about what happened last night between us, huh?" She asked, tilting her head. I nodded in response and let her continue. "It's true, what I told you last night. Ever since we were young, I… I have always been in love with you. But because of our different species at the time, love like that was forbidden in different places and looked upon as disgusting to others. I thought overtime this feeling would eventually leave… but it didn't. When you turned into a Dewott, I thought I could tell you everything, that it wasn't strange between us. I didn't want to say anything to you about how I feel before, well because of our differences." Latias sighed, looking up at the sky, a tear poured down from her eye. "I feared if I did tell you how I felt when you were still a human you would kick me out of your team. And I also feared of telling you as you are now… I love this place, this is my home… I didn't know how to do it, to tell you."

"I uh, I can understand that." I said, unsure if what I was saying was the right thing to say, now I wish I did have more time before the talk began between us, perhaps it could've been easier. "I uh… I don't know what to say. I mean, sure I am a Pokemon now and not a human anymore, b-but I don't know how I feel about this."

"Was I too rash?" She asked. "I did kiss you on the hill last night and asked to talk about what had happened with you the following morning."

"M-maybe a little." I chuckled lightly.

"If you want, we can talk again. But this time I'll give you more time to think about it. Is that okay?" She smiled, I smiled with her.

"It is, thank you." I was glad we could talk again, but with more time this time. Without a few hours before our next conversation, I had more time to solve this question; is what I am doing right?

Right or wrong, was it something that I wanted, or not? Latias was a Pokemon, and I was born a human turned Pokemon. Was it acceptable for me now? I needed to know these things. I had to talk to someone about it, or people I trusted; my friends, maybe even my family. Could they hold the answer to my question I want answered? Would they accept me if I did start a relationship with her? I just wanted to be normal.

Today, tomorrow, or sometime later this week, I may find out.

To be continued... 

* * *

**Trivia:**

**Zack and Latias were originally meant to join in with the treasure hunt with the others before the conversation began.**


	8. Chapter 8 Answers

Chapter 08 - Answers 

* * *

**Nuvema Town – Laboratory Gardens**

The treasure hunt had finished earlier than expected just like the conversation me and Latias had, so all of us got together to have lunch which consisted on mostly berries and fruits. A delicious meal with my friends. But today wasn't over yet, soon after the meal I would talk to them and ask if what I was doing, would it be acceptable? I had to ask, I needed answers. All I had to do was to break the ice and ask.

After lunch had ended, all of us had either separated to relax alone or play with other Pokemon nearby. Latias had disappeared somewhere leaving me to myself to talk with my Pokemon one at a time. Then if I still had time I would speak with Sakura, Isaac, and Lisa and Brent if I could. So the first Pokemon I spoke to was the one who had just finished up his food last; Dewott. His daughters were off playing with Totodile and Bayleef's children and it was just us two.

* * *

****

**Dewott**

"Yeah, I was in love with a few female Pokemon during our travels, and including female humans once in every city or town… yeah, don't judge me on that." Dewott Laughed, thinking back to how he used to check out the human girls he saw from when he was an Oshawott until his current form. "Well, not love but admiration for females I liked. But then I found my true love; Meowstic and had ourselves two beautiful daughters with a third child coming soon. Maybe we will have four in the future if we decide to." Dewott paused before eating the last of his berries. "Why'd ya ask?"

I should've expected this; 'the why bring it up questions' I only focused on how I was going to ask them about love and if they would be alright if I was in a relationship with a different species than the one I was born as.

"Well, I am a little worried about… this." I said gesturing to myself with both of my paws. "What species can I get into a relationship now? A human because I was one, or a Pokemon? Would it seem too weird if I was in a relationship with anything?"

He paused for a moment. It seemed like an hour had passed for how long it had felt. I don't know what I was thinking at that moment, perhaps dread on what Dewott was about to say, that this was the first of perhaps many things I would hear from my friends, words of disapproval about me wanting to get into a relationship with anything. "Hmm, it's not a question many have asked to their friends that often. I see it like this; I am a Dewott, a water type, and Meowstic is a Psychic type. We are completely different in many ways in both appearance and form. You are a Pokemon now and not a human anymore. The professor said so before we left the Savior's. What or who you love is your business; I ain't the kind to judge."

"Remember Zack, if something is bothering you, feel free and talk to me whenever, I'll listen and I'll do everything I can to try and help."

I nodded and smiled as Dewott finished up his berries before walking on over to his children to play with them. Well that was one down and five more to speak to before the day was over. Maybe my non human friends if I had the time today.

* * *

****

**Espeon**

Walking over to Espeon lying down on her back to look up at the sky, she smiled as I walked near and gestured for me to lie down with her. So I did and the first words that came out of my mouth were; 'Espeon, uh… have you ever been in love before?'

"Love you say, eh? Well, because of my damned body preventing me from ever having any children with any mate in the near or farthest future I kinda gave up on the whole search for the 'soul mate' I have heard about in almost every romantic novel/movie I have ever seen. But I do like to flirt with a male or female from time to time, gotta spice up my alley a little. Or am I kidding on that part?" She snickered as she levitated an apple up to her mouth to take a bike and began to chew. "But seriously, love? I don't know if I am ready for that kind of level… I am kinda the more fly free kinda female than stick around and relax one. I want to see the world and go on more crazy adventures; I don't have time for love… think about it; who would ever love someone like me? I can't even reproduce."

"I'm pretty sure you'll find someone who will love you for who you are, and not what you can't do."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll meet my prince charming one day. Or maybe he's already lying down right next to me?" She giggled, nudging my shoulder lightly. "Is this gotta do with how you think your friends, family or onlookers would see you?"

I could only nod my head, sure that Espeon saw as I continued to stare at the sky.

"It is a touchy subject I have heard a few times during our travels together. Human with Pokemon, Pokemon with human… although that is the same thing. Changing into a Pokemon when you were once a human, I can see a lot of people casting an eyebrow or look of disgust; maybe a few Pokemon might do the same thing. But Zackary, love whoever you damn well want, I am your friend 'Till the end of time'… obvious title reference. But no matter what species, I'll be happy for you and be by your side to back you up."

"Thanks Espeon, I appreciate it."

"I get turning into a different species is shocking and all. Your entire life changes, diet, how you see the world, and your abilities. You shouldn't be locked out on wanting to start a relationship with someone just because of your original form being different than what your previous form was. So go out there and catch yourself someone really special to you. Fuck what anyone else thinks or says about you. They don't know you for who you are, they are just fucking nobodies. But your friends will be by your side, no matter what you do."

* * *

****

**Gardevoir**

The next Pokemon I went to see later that evening was Gardevoir still sitting beside the laboratory entrance reading of course one of her many dictionary like it was the most exciting book ever.

"Love? Ah yes, love, the definition from my good friend 'The Dictionary'; an intense feeling of deep affection. Fondness, tenderness, warmth-"

"Gardevoir, I don't need to know the definition of it, I already know it. All I am asking is if you have ever felt uh, love for anyone before?" I interrupted her knowing this would go on for hours and I wanted to get through as many as I could before the day ends.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh-" It was the longest 'Uh' I have ever heard from Gardevoir, probably lasted a minute or two. She usually did things like this, long pauses in-between questions and answers, slow response times. Hearing her make that noise for that long did kinda creep me out a little, so I had to nudge her a little until she stopped and continued with my answer. "Well, I have never loved anyone else before or never kissed anyone before. Ever since my love for dictionaries came into my life I have never really thought about starting a relationship with anyone. Well there was one; a Vulpix a few years before I met you. But the problem was he hated dictionaries and had a crazy obsession with collecting straws. I mean, who the heck collects and is obsessed with straws? Collectors are an enigma…"

I rolled my eyes as she glanced over at her small 'collection' of dictionaries resting beside her inside her bag with a bright smile.

"Do you have someone you love?" She held up her paws and gasped staring at me with a slight smile growing ever so slowly. "Who is it? Is she someone we know? Does she have an admiration for dictionaries like me?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not with anyone at the moment…" It was where I wanted to be, to ask her that question that I needed answered. "-But Gardevoir, what can I love if I'm a Dewott, if I'm a Pokemon? I'm just worried still about what other people might think of me. You guys, my friends…"

"Zack, you know I would never judge you based on who or what you love." She said, placing her arm around my shoulder and pulling me in for a warm tight hug. "It might be odd at first glance, but in time we'll all get used to it, just like how you are a cute Dewott now instead of that cute trainer a few weeks ago. If you're happy, than I am happy." Gardevoir stopped her tight hug but still kept her arm around my shoulder.

"So, I can love any species and you wouldn't feel… uh, uncomfortable abound me?" I asked. She shook her head. It was nice knowing the good majority of my friends (Pokemon) said that they would support me and back me up, that no matter what I could be in a relationship with any species and they would be fine with it.

But I needed more. I had to know what the others thought. And not just my Pokemon, but Sakura, Isaac and perhaps Lisa and Brent if I could get a hold of them. After what my Pokemon said, I was nervous about what the others would say, and my family.

* * *

****

**Golurk**

The next Pokemon I spoke to immediately after Gardevoir was Golurk sitting beside the garden's small lake. I asked Golurk the same opening to my other Pokemon, and replied with; "Mr Zack, are you worried of what others will think of you should you decide to enter a relationship with either human or Pokemon?"

I nodded in response. "A good question to ask, a strong one for cases such as yourself. So many views, beliefs, what is right and what is wrong. Not wanting others to view you as something you are not, not wanting to lose them, to sacrifice everything for one." Golurk turned to look at me. "I believe it is you Mr Zack, You have the right to love anyone and anything just like everyone else has the right to love someone they hold dear. You should not be prevented from love because of your new form."

Silence soon followed between the two of us. I didn't get it. Why were the majority of my Pokemon all accepting like this? I figured a handful of them would be against it or something. I expected them to beg me not to 'ruin' my life. I expected something other than this.

"To answer your question on if I have ever been in love before… I wouldn't call it love. Long before you and I met years ago in the forest I was travelling with my friend; Mienfoo. We were close, friends… but never in love." Golurk said picking up a small twig off from the grass beneath us and poked at the lake's water creating ripples across the lake. "She was like a sister to me; we played together, lived and spared to prepare ourselves for the worse. We often told each other stories, adventure stories we retold to one another and to the other Pokemon within the forest. We were called the 'Storytelling Duo' that's what the Pokemon called us. Then one day, hunters appeared and robbed me of my friend. I never did get the chance to say goodbye to her, or tell her how much she mattered to me. Although I never said what I wanted to say, I think she already knew."

"I have told many stories to many Pokemon at the laboratory. Some I had created to excite them, some real stories of adventures long ago by Pokemon who passed down their stories unto me. And some were stories told unto me by Mienfoo. And I tell the Pokemon at the laboratory her stories, happy to see their excited faces after I tell them Mienfoo's stories."

"I'd like to hear them sometime." I smiled. "I don't think I have ever heard you tell anyone of her stories before. I would like to hear them." Golurk chuckled, and with its large hand patted me on the back.

"Mr Zack, whenever you are free, all you have to do is let me know, and hours upon hours of stories will be told."

* * *

****

**Totodile and Bayleef**

"Of course we can Zack. Anything for you!" Bayleef cheered while watching her and Totodile's children playing together in a pile of leaves. Since both of them were together and not split up like my other Pokemon, I thought this would be quicker to ask my question to the both of them and move on to the next one instead of one at a time. But I was a lot more nervous than I was when asking just one at a time, and I had hoped it would go smoothly when asking just one friend.

I had told them the question I had asked the others; 'what species can I love if I am a Pokemon?' For a moment they sat there together and stared at each other.

"Um, I feel as though you are allowed to get into a relationship with anything you want." Bayleef began. "If you want to be with a human girl, then do it. If you want to be in a relationship with a Pokemon, then go ahead." She smiled. Totodile glanced up at her with an unsure look at her response.

"But what about that whole interspecies thing I hear that poeple don't like?" He said. "Because if he does get into a relationship with a human, then people who don't like that sort of thing will probably say hurtful things to them or attack them."

"Oh. But then there is the very low number of people who are into that sort of thing. It would take a long time and search for Zack to find a decent human female who would love Zack." Bayleef sighed. "And if Zack did find a female Pokemon to fall in love with, to Pokemon it would be seen as normal and pass it off as such, even to other humans who don't know Zack. It would be humans who knew him as a human before he got turned into a Dewott who might see this as weird… uh, sorry Zack." She turned her head to face mine as she apologized with her head hung low.

Totodile crossed his arms and hummed closing his eyes deep in thought for a while. "Perhaps you should ask what everyone else thinks about you getting into a relationship." He asked with a toothy grin. "Yeah! Sometime soon whenever you are feeling up to it, go around and ask what everyone else thinks. Maybe that'll help give you the answer."

I nodded at that with a smile. "Thanks you guys. I will ask them."

"I'm pretty sure by the end of all of this you'll find the answer and perhaps one day soon you'll find someone who will love you for who you are and not what you are." With that, I felt happier and began to stand up to find another one of my friends I hadn't spoken to about all of this.

I just had to escape Totodile and Bayleef before things got-

"Just like how I fell in love with you for who you are my beautiful flower." Totodile smiled, holding Bayleef's foreleg with his paw. Here we go…

"And had beautiful children after, my love." Bayleef smiled as she nuzzled his muzzle. They did that a lot, either alone or with friends resting or eating together; they just talked like this for hours seemingly without an end in sight. Not that I didn't like seeing these two together, they were a great couple. But seeing them do it from time to time, it just made it uncomfortable for me to be there any longer than I needed.

And on that note I decided to walk away from the happy couple before things got too weird… on to the next friend before the day was over.

* * *

****

**Sakura Kanai**

I found Sakura by the entrance to the laboratory listening (I think) to Gardevoir's dictionary talk. When I walked up closer towards the two, only Sakura noticed me while Gardevoir continued to explain every word she got to in her dictionary.

"Oh, hi Zack. I didn't realize you were at the lab today." She smiled. "Did you just arrive?"

"No." I shook my head sitting down beside her with my back against the laboratory building. "I arrived when the lab opened this morning. I figured it was a good time to spend some time with my Pokemon, get to know them a little more since I can understand what they are saying without Espeon, Gardevoir or Isaac translating for me."

"That's so neat. I wish I could understand what my Pokemon are saying, just like Isaac, Gardevoir and Espeon. Maybe sometime during the search for Isaac's herb he is searching for, maybe I can join in on the conversation with our Pokemon." She sighed leaning back against the lab wall while looking up at the orange sky.

"And when we do find that herb and you use it we will go to a café in the big city. And while we are in a café with our Pokemon, we can have ourselves a private conversation without anyone listening in on us." I chuckled at the thought of seeing other people watch us all communicate with each other perhaps not knowing that we could all understand one another.

"And soon once we get everything prepared, we will begin Isaac's search for the herb. You know what Zack?" She asked tilting her head to look at me. "I have a feeling we will find the herb somewhere out there. I don't know when, but I think we will."

We spoke for a while, about this and that. Nothing interesting that I'll talk about. Then, like with the others, nervously I asked her the same question.

"Huh. Hadn't really thought about that up until now." She said sounding unsure. In my head at the time, I thought that Sakura would be the first of many to say what I was doing was wrong and pleading with me to back out before I ventured too far in for which I may not return. "Uh, that's kind of up for debate, huh? I'm not going to sugar coat it, so I'll tell you honestly; I wouldn't know how I would feel about it. Sure it is illegal and all about interspecies relations… but I want you to be happy. I will think about this and let you know."

"Thank you, Sakura. Let me know when you want to talk." It was all I could say in response to that. It was something I had expected to hear from many of my friends about this. Either a look of disgust or unsure, or like I said before; pleading with me to change my ways before it is too late. I was happy to hear that Sakura would talk to me soon on how she felt about me being in a relationship with whatever, it was better than nothing.

"U-uh I- Z-Zack?" She stumbled to say. "Do you already have someone you are interested in? Is that why you are asking if I am alright with you being in a relationship with the form you are right now?"

"No, I don't have anyone I am interested in as of now." I sighed. My mind suddenly playing images inside my head of that kiss Latias gave me last night. We weren't a couple, so why did that memory start playing in my head was beyond me. "If I was interested in someone, I just wanted to know what you guys… I just wanted to know how you would feel if I did want to start a relationship with someone." I held out my paw letting Sakura see. "What can I love if I am like this?"

"Zack, I don't know how to answer that I'm afraid, I wish I did know."

I turned my head up to look at the orange sky, the day was almost at an end and the laboratory would be closed soon. I only needed to talk to a few more friends before the day was done; I wanted to talk with as many as I could. I wanted to hear everyone's thought about me being in relationship with whatever or whoever. I needed to know.

* * *

****

**Isaac Anderson**

I stumbled across Isaac near the forest section of the garden where most of the bug and bird types liked to stay during their duration of garden time by chance. Isaac was kneeling down beside one of the many flowers that grew at the edge of the forest along with others amongst the green vegetation no doubt Isaac had checked already long before I got there.

"Yo Zack!" He waved with one hand while holding a notebook in the other. "Check this out; clovers!" He exclaimed pointing towards clovers almost amongst the green of the forest edge. "Man, I haven't seen these in a long time. It reminds me of my childhood with my friend Shinx on our search for my great-grandmothers herb in our back yard… we found a lot of these clovers everywhere." Isaac smiled

"Hey, maybe I'll get lucky and find myself a four leaf clover. Then look out ya dang herb, I'll find ya!" He chuckled flicking through the clovers in search of a four leaf clover.

"What are you planning to use the clover for?" I asked kneeling down beside him curious as to why he was searching for a clover.

"Safe travels while we search I guess. Perhaps even assist us on the search, maybe it will come to a quick end on our search for the herb." He didn't need a four leaf clover to help find his herb or any. I believed he could find it, but not alone. I had originally planned with the help from Sakura tagging along, perhaps with Lisa and Brent if they could, for all of us to help Isaac on his search for the herb for a longer period of time. I had more than enough money to help fund with our quest. But with what's to come later, things were placed on hold… for a long time…

"So Zack, what brings you out here?" He asked, stopping in his clover search to sit down on the forest floor. Like with the others before Isaac, I asked him the same question

"That's uh, that's quite the question. Why do you ask? Did a girl before you got turned into a Pokemon ask you out or something?" He asked. "Cause if"

"Uh, there was this dream I had a few days ago. In the dream I was in a relationship with this girl. After my transformation into a Dewott in the dream she uh, she left me not wanting to be with something not of her kind. And then I woke up. And ever since then I have been questioning what or if I can love if I am a Pokemon now instead of a human." I lied about the dream part, not wanting to reveal to him how I started off this question thing. It all started off with Latias kissing me and revealing to me that she loved me, confusing me and also questioning what or if I can love because of my transformation. Fearing or losing not only friends, by family, the only family I had left. I wonder if Latias had not kissed me, would I ever question any of this later down the line?

"I ain't too sure what I would do if it happened to me. A girl I have known for years, dating and such. And then all of a sudden I get turned into a Pokemon… well, I am pretty sure we'd still be together but seen by others as 'that couple' to everyone else, or maybe split up because of our appearance/form. Might be seen as odd and somewhat strange I guess."

"If I do find someone I love, human or Pokemon; what do I do? Do I just let them go and be by myself until the day I die?"

"You shouldn't be prevented on loving someone just because of your transformation. You should be able to do things everyone else can. But if you do decide to venture down this line you should be careful. There may be one or two people out there who might start all kinds of trouble. It may take time for people and Pokemon you know to come to terms that you are a Pokemon now instead of a human and for them to get used to the fact that you are in a relationship with human or Pokemon. But I am sure the majority of us will stick by you."

"Thanks Isaac." I said standing up. Isaac returned to his search through the clovers in search of the four leafed clover for a few more minutes before retiring for the day with Sakura back at the hotel nearby.

With all of my Pokemon finished talking with, both Sakura and Isaac done, I only needed to speak with Lisa and Brent about this, then I'll speak with my mom and sister another day at the right moment.

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – Laboratory Garden**

Immediately after I spoke with Isaac, I tried to get in contact with both Lisa and Brent hoping to get a chance to talk to them before the day was through, but each of them after ten plus times, they were all busy to answer, so I had to try again tomorrow or maybe another day.

Walking through the garden in search for Latias I thought about things, like; I was happy to know that whatever species I get into a relationship with I knew my Pokemon had my back and were all supportive of me. And the conversation me and Latias had before, thinking about it as I walked, it didn't seem too bad, it felt as if it were normal now. But still, the thought or the fear was still there; reactions from everyone else, seeing them either hurt or disgusted… I didn't want that to happen.

If my Pokemon, Sakura and Isaac were this acceptant of my romantic relationships with either Pokemon or human, I had hoped my family would be the same, and perhaps my fears would be set aside for good, and I could live a normal life.

After an hour of walking or searching in my case nearly every section of the garden, I found Latias resting beside the small hill beneath the tall tree (I don't know why I didn't check there first).

She smiled at the sight of me and lifted her paw up gesturing for me to approach her, and I did sitting down beside her. But it wouldn't be for long since the laboratory garden would close soon.

"I heard from Espeon earlier that you were talking about if she woul accept you for being in a relationship with either human or Pokemon." She said. "And not just Espeon, but all of our friends, even Sakura and Isaac. Does that mean… um, do you want to start something between us?"She asked, waiting for me to answer with an intense blush spread across her face.

I had to speak the truth with this; I had to be honest with her. Sure it was a risky thing to start something now without asking my mom and sister Yuri, and friends Isaac and Sakura if what I would be doing was okay or not.

I didn't want to be locked out of this; a relationship because of what my psychical appearance was. "Latias…" I said now holding her paws with my own. "I uh, I don't know if I want this or not. I don't know if I what I am doing is right or wrong. But after speaking with our friends today, they were all accepting of me should I start a relationship with whatever species she may be who comes into my life. I am scared, that I can admit. Would it be alright with you if we got together sometime soon and spend the day together? I uh, I want to be sure if this is what I really want. If I am okay with this."

"Of course Zack. Of course it's alright." She pulled me in for a hug, a long one until the bells were heard signalling the closure of the laboratory garden.

I thought it might be fun to get out and do this sort of thing. Even if it was just Latias, something that was a little tricky to get past. She was my friend and not a complete stranger or something different.

We decided in a few days to meet up together to go on a little date I guess. At first I was nervous about the whole thing, but not so much this time. Maybe this could be practice for what was to come in my life now, even if I had a little amount bit in the back of my head little voices saying don't.

Looking at Latias, for the first time only know I had noticed her smile as she looked at me, it felt comforting, it felt warm. I felt happy around her. I didn't know if I did harbor any feelings for her, or if it were something else entirely. But I was looking forward to the next time we got together.

All of my Pokemon I spoke to today, Dewott, Espeon, Gardevoir, Golurk, Totodile and Bayleef. My friends; Sakura and Isaac with the exception of Lisa and Brent. They all seemed to be on board with me being in a relationship with any species I wanted to be with, but if they saw me with Latias and knew about our plan to meet up soon, would they say the same thing? Would they still accept it? Would my family accept it?

In a few days, I would have to say something.

A few days… until Doom.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

This chapter was originally meant to take place in Castelia City in the Savior's building while Zack was recovering.


	9. Chapter 9 Interests

Chapter 09 – Interests

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – The Hill**

Carrying around a large (for my size at least) from my house up to the hill by the edge of town was by no means an easy feat for me. I thought I could handle carrying the basket up since all that was inside was some food and drinks, weight I could easily handle when I was human, but being a Dewott now, being this small proved that I didn't know my strengths, I was weaker now. And it was something I had to be familiar with for the rest of my life.

In town whenever people saw me, they didn't see the same Zack Raines who with the help from his friends defeated Team Annihilation years ago when he was fourteen years old, or the same guy who prevented Infinite from turning all life on the planet from all timelines by becoming a battery for Infinite to live forever, they saw an unusual Pokemon with a different color scheme than the usual blue and the shiny. A rare and unique Pokemon, an easy target and easy to catch since I didn't know any moves. I'm pretty sure one or two of them are going to try at some point in the future.

It was the only place we could think of that was a fine place to start this whole date thing. I mean we couldn't do it at the lab garden, someone would see us there. My back yard, now that place would have the occasional visit from my sister, my mom or one of my Pokemon interfering on our date. So the hill at the edge of town was the place to go, a place far away from the prying eyes of my Pokemon, family or anyone who would randomly walk up and see us, or see me easily identifying me because of my different colored fur and eyes as Zack Raines kissing a Latias… then secrets out for all of my family to endure.

So my plan here was to set things up, wait for Latias and relax a little to ease the tension, start a little conversation which will ease the mood between us, and see where it takes us… but with me, plans usually never turn out right.

"Hello Zack!" And right behind me was no one else but Latias smiling with a single red rose in her claw. "I uh, I didn't know if we were too meet up either at midday or fifteen minutes before…"

"I just got here just now, but the two of us together can set up the blanket and food a lot faster than one." I smiled, nervousness showing at my paws as I was clutching the basket handle a lot tighter… although it might have been that I was carrying the heavy basket for too long, who knows.

"Oh um, I got you this rose. Since you were bringing the food up here, I thought it would be nice to at least give you something in return." She said handing me the rose. It was a red rose with a few leaves still on the stem. Luckily the thorns were already cut off, no doubt Latias saw to that. I had seen this rose or many like them growing in the garden.

"Thank you, it's a beautiful rose." I said smiling up at her, carefully setting the rose to a side before I started on setting up for our picnic together.

Setting down the blanket and setting up the food; berries, fruit of Pokeblocks for Latias, a sandwich and… some more fruit, berries and Pokeblocks. Yeah, I didn't know what to bring for this picnic date so I just brought whatever I could from the fridge.

With the food set up and ready for us, sitting down on opposite sides of the blanket, I stared at her while she turned to look at the town below the hill. I didn't know which one of us would start talking first, so I guess it was me to break the ice first and begin.

"So uh," I began, Latias smiled turning her head. Her attention was completely on me now. "Do you do this often? I mean go out like this?" Well it was better than awkward silence. I obviously knew the answer to that, but it was something to start things off.

"Uh no, I have never done this before. This is a first for me. I'm a little nervous about this." She replied, and then asked. "What about you, have you ever done this before?"

"I am also nervous. But no, I haven't done this before with anyone."

"So tell me Zack, what do you like to do? Any sports, video games or TV shows, I would like to know."

So I had options on the three to start off with, but which one was the answer to start off on? With sports I could… well I guess there was that one time during our two week vacation after we defeated Infinite a few years back when me and Brent at the beach teamed up together to face another team in a volleyball game. I am not a big fan of sports, but at least I could say I did have fun playing them game and would be interested on playing it again. Maybe she would like to play with us?

If I were to talk about video games, maybe I could talk about some of my favorite role playing games, adventure games or maybe some horror games might be something interesting to talk about. I didn't want to sound boring or confuse Latias with what I was talking about, I wanted to talk about something that I liked but at the same time keep her interested. But what though?

And TV shows, well I don't usually watch TV all that often, but I do enjoy anthology and sci-fi shows. I know for a fact Latias would talk about her TV show she likes to watch every now and then; Super Latias if I asked. Maybe I could start with that? Maybe I could ask about her show that she likes, maybe learn a few things about it.

"Well for starters, I do like watching anthology shows." I said. "One in Particular that I have just started watching which I really enjoy and like to go back and watch every so often is one called; 'The Semi-darkness Zone' I know it's an old show and all, but I really enjoy the stories of most episodes and the creepiness of some."

"I haven't watched that show before. You obviously know about my show that I like to watch; Super Latias, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear about that show. I know I always talk about it…" She said glumly, shifting her eyes to look at the food lay out on top of the blanket.

"Well you do talk about it a lot, but I'm curious about this show. I mean, why do you like that show?" I asked, really interest in knowing why Latias liked watching that show. I could never get into the show myself, not because of Latias seemingly endless talks about her show most of the time just like Gardevoir does with her dictionary losing interest in this show, but for some reason listening to her talk about her show made me smile seeing how happy she was whenever talking about it.

"Oh well, do you remember when you first wanted to join the Savior's when you were young?" She asked, I nodded in response remembering when I was eight years old, several months after meeting Latias I had discovered the Savior's. I even remembered when I wanted to join so that I could become a hero… some stupid childish dream I had.

"Just as you discovered the Savior's and wanting to become a hero through them, I found Super Latias on TV. In the show, Super Latias is the hero, and to tell you the truth I wanted to be like her. She was strong, kind to all, and she would never give up. And when others needed help, she would help them. So on the day you left to become a Savior member, I followed and wanted to team up with you to help you reach the highest level of the Savior's like you have always wanted. If I were Super Latias, I figured that was what she would do like on the show. Like I wanted to prove myself to you that I could be strong enough to help you. Kind of silly, right?" She chuckled before asking with a smile. I smiled back.

"It's not." I said shaking my head. "You were looking out for me, and I can't thank you enough for all of your help. But you don't have to prove anything to me; you have done more than enough. Over the years, we have done a lot of good together. I couldn't ask for a better friend by my side."

Latias blushed and shyly looked away before saying. "Zack I… t-thank you."

Latias turned her head at the bowl of fruit set in front of her and grabbed an apple with her claws before biting down on it. Because of her large mouth she easily could eat the apple within two bites or one if she wanted. I picked up a random berry from the bowl next to me and ate it, joining her on eating the food set out for us, only some of it wanting to get back into conversation without making this whole thing too awkward.

So what would I talk about next? Something which may keep the excitement rating up, keep her interested on staying here and talking longer rather than staying, making small talk and eating food… then leaving.

Maybe I could ask her what she likes to do or would like to do at some point down the line. How about after we finish with Isaac's search for the herb? Another vacation somewhere, to see new regions and new Pokemon maybe? Or maybe I could ask what her interests are, apart from Super Latias TV show she loves watching.

"So Latias." I began after finishing up the berry by swallowing it. "What do you like doing? I mean, what are your interests? Favorite pastime, movie, I would like to know."

"Me? Hmm, what are my interests?" She asked herself placing her paw beneath her chin, staring at the food beneath her deep in thought. "Well, for starters I like to fly high above the town every so often. Doing so helps me clear my mind; it lets me feel relaxed and calm." Latias pointed upwards with her paw at the sky. "Sometimes whenever I am up that high, I wonder what is over the horizon, what other places are there out there. One day, I would like to travel beyond our home and see the world. Being cooped up here in the Unova region for most of my life, I'm curious about what's out there."

"Do you have any place in mind on where you want to go first?" I asked her.

"We have been to the Kanto region before, then Hoenn. But during so we have only gone to those places because of missions. I want to go back to those places and more places while not having a mission in our faces for the duration of the visit."

Latias glanced up at me with a questioning look before asking. "Zack, do you still… uh, I don't to upset you or say anything to make you angry, but do you still intend to work with the Savior's?"

It was something that had been on my mind for the past few weeks after the transformation. A question I didn't know how to answer, just like the question on if a relationship with someone else because of my new form was ever possible or acceptable.

Sure I could still work with the Savior's, maybe even get a desk job there or maybe teach new recruits. But maybe if I was ever out in the field, because of my new form as a Dewott, I could slip by undetected as just some normal average wild Dewott wandering the forests or beach whenever I would be out there to track down a dangerous person or new Annihilation wannabe or gang. I would be perfect for missions like that. Missions from which I could keep a low profile in and out ready for the next one without anyone noticing me…

But people would notice a white Dewott with black and red eyes, something the people who I may be after would be on the lookout for.

If I did go into a relationship with Latias or anyone else like this, I probably lose my position at the Savior's. Family gone, friends if they didn't mean it when I asked if they were okay with me being in a relationship. I didn't want to lose it. But thinking of it then, Latias would continue following me while I still worked as a Savior member, having only a few weeks or month off after I complete a major mission or two. Latias would still be cooped up in Nuvema town, never seeing a new region we go to because of a mission in our faces all the time.

"Maybe I… should give up on this job?" I thought to myself. I remembered what the reason I had for joining the Savior's, my original plan; I would join up, reach the highest rank within the Savior's to earn myself a lot of money so I could retire and earn myself a family I could start up. I was already a rank 02, maybe it was time to let go and travel the world with Latias, and maybe our friends if they were willing to come with us. No more missions, just us. Annihilation was disbanded long ago, Infinite was defeated, if I did retire, I would be leaving my comrades at the Savior's to handle the wannabe Annihilation teams that have sprouted throughout different regions, almost nonthreatening and dangerous. They would be fine without me.

A smile formed on my face, I thought to myself that maybe I already had reached my original goal. Reaching the (almost) highest rank, earning a good amount of money to last for years if I was careful. And maybe if things do turn out well between me and Latias, maybe we could start ourselves a family.

If our friends and family did support us, if things did go well for us, then we could have a peaceful life.

"I think I am going to end my career with them soon." I said. "I think it's time I did end my career with them and do what you want to do; see the world without a mission on our minds. I have more than enough money to do so and I would be perfectly happy to settle down with a small job. Maybe work at the bakery with mom."

"You don't have to." She said, holding my paw with her claw. "I don't want you to give up anything because of me."

"I know, but it's what I want to do, with you Latias." With my other paw, I placed it on top of hers. "It was something I have been thinking about for some time now. And I feel as if I am ready to leave the Savior's. They'll be fine without me, and I know I'll be fine without them. So I am ready to move on and see the world without anything holding us back."

Latias smiled as she wrapped her arms around my chest and pulled me in for a tight but not so suffocating hug unlike her other hugs she has given to me recently. She let go and we stared at one another in silence for a short moment still holding each other's paws/claws before we laughed together. I don't know why, it just sort of happened.

Then we continued our conversation about endless things such as favorite movies, pastimes and music we liked. Latias had a favourite movie she loved, but surprisingly it wasn't a Super Latias movie. She told me the Super Latias movies were great and all, but none could ever be as good as a movie she enjoyed ever since she was young, a movie I watched often as a young boy; 'Toy Tale' a stop motion film about toys coming to life, created by 'Pixel' and 'Dizzy'

Latias doesn't listen to music that often, but when she does it leaves her with a mixed reaction to most of them, not knowing if it was good or bad. Giving most of them listened to the example as 'Headache inducing' but she then revealed to me that she already found a favorite she liked to listen to; classical music she first discovered when she was alone in my kitchen a few years back just after completing a mission within the Unova region. She heard the music on the radio expecting the same 'Headache inducing' music as the others, but when she heard the music play, she started to dance to it, something when I first saw I found amusing and cute.

The day was coming to an end because of our food now completely eaten and our energy almost consumed, we were about to call it a day and I asking to meet up again soon. But then as soon as I got the empty plates and bowls into the basket with the blanket, Latias picked me up close to her chest.

"Zack, close your eyes for me I want to show you something." She said, gripping me tighter as she levitated off from the ground. I was sceptical of this at first, not knowing what she wanted to show me, but I did what she asked and closed my eyes and nodded in response.

Suddenly, just as soon as I shut my eyes tight, I felt a strong breeze and I could hear the wind. Was Latias flying somewhere? But why and for what reason did Latias have for carrying and flying off somewhere for? Also I didn't want to leave behind the picnic basket since it was my moms.

Then after a while, the strong breeze died down, it felt colder. "Okay, you can open your eyes now." She said, and i did and what I saw both surprised me and shocked me. I was now probably two thousand feet high above Nuvema Town

"This is why I come up here for." She said, turning her head to get a look at my face. "Isn't this great?"

Now I wasn't much of a height's kinda person and would often avoid climbing tall buildings and locations, but being up this high to see the new sight was… beautiful. The town below looked so small like a miniature model. And it wasn't just the town that I could see, it was the forests surrounding the small town, and up north of Nuvema was what I assumed was Accumula Town or perhaps it was Striaton. Latias turned to the south and showed me the ocean with the setting sun in the horizon. Orange sky and clouds surrounding us, Latias flew over to one of the clouds.

"I came up here for the first time when I was young, a few days after you found me passed out outside your home. Because I didn't know where I came from or why I was here, I thought maybe by being up here I could figure out where I came from, who my parents were." Latias moved back so I could be on top of her, sitting on her stomach so she could freely move her arms. "I even considered to go out and find them. But when we became friends, I didn't want to leave. Since then, I always come here to relax without a care in the world, watching the horizon."

"It's nice up here." I finally said brave enough to speak being up this high. I knew that if I did fall, Latias would defiantly speed down and catch me before I hit the bottom, but I was still afraid that Latias wouldn't be fast enough to catch me and I'll end up as... ugh.

"It sure is." She replied watching the sunset a little more before returning to the ground. "If you ever want to come up here again, all you got to do is let me know, and we can spend all day up here."

My face must've turned white at that. Actually my face already is white because of my fur, but you get the idea. I wasn't keen on the idea of being that high up, so maybe I would try at least once or two more times with her, but not for too long though. "Great, can't wait." Was all I could say, clutching Latias tighter on fearing of falling the remaining distance before touching the ground.

With the rest of the picnic equipment all returned back inside the basket, our date was officially over and so it was time we headed on back home. As we walked from the hill and down the path towards the crossroads, one path to lead me back home, and the other for Latias to follow to get back to the Laboratory, Latias stopped me by lightly touching my shoulder and asked.

"Uh, Zack? Did you enjoy yourself today?"

I nodded, careful not to drop the basket onto the ground. "Yeah, it was great. I had a good time today. And how about you, did you have a fun time?"

Latias quickly nodded her head. "I so did have fun today. The food was amazing and fresh, the view up in the sky today was beautiful, and of course the company was great. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Thank you Zack."

"So, if you are still interested Zack, do you want to meet up again for another date?" She asked shyly, trying to hide her face with her paw.

"Yeah I would." I smiled, happy that me and Latias would be spending more time soon. Latias smiled in return, but then she suddenly lowered herself to my level and kissed me, but this time on my cheek before giggling and flying away before I could say anything.

I stood for a moment, watching where Latias had flew off towards while touching my cheek where she kissed me. Then I walked in the direction back home happy for how today had been.

_"It didn't seem weird this time."_ I thought to myself as I walked the path home. _"Maybe things could work between us…"_ I smiled again thinking back to that kiss.

Then another thought came into mind; those people who might try to catch me. I needed to learn how to defend myself, so as soon as I got back home, I would plan things out.

Tomorrow I had a plan set in motion, tomorrow I would meet with one of my friends, a Pokemon to help me train so I can use whatever moves I can learn in this new body. If I were to go down this path for me to be in a relationship with Latias, I needed to learn how to defend myself against those who try to capture me or bad people/Pokemon wanting to hurt my friends.

I thought about Shiny Latias, about why she did this to me, and where she was now. I thought I our last confrontation was the last time we would ever see her again, and for the remainder of my life I would go on without ever knowing the true reason for this transformation. But what I didn't know that my time here back home was limited to the arrival of not just Shiny Latias, but also Doom.

To be continued... 

* * *

**Trivia:**

This chapter was originally viewed in Latias' POV from beginning to end, but because of where the story is going and how Latias doesn't seem to have any POVs anymore, it was changed just to Zack's POV only. Reasons for no Latias POV will come later.


	10. Chapter 10 Psychic Power

Chapter 10 – Psychic Power 

* * *

**Zack's Home – The First Day**

It was called 'The first day of perhaps many more' from what I was told by Espeon a day prior to her coming over to my house and meeting me in the back yard for a one-on-one training session I agreed to take part in to hone my moves. I was part water and part psychic type when the professor said I was a day after I woke to this new form.

Professor Guard also revealed from the Doom Project that all humans who were turned into Pokemon from the serum couldn't evolve into the next stage of evolution. It mentioned something about all so-called members being out of control and something about being too dangerous if they did, or something.

Espeon told me eat well, sleep well and try to relax the brain for what was to come; training which would last not only an hour, not a few hours but several days, perhaps more. Something I thought would take a day or two. Early in the morning I got up and had breakfast and 'relaxed the brain' in the back yard while waiting for Espeon to arrive so the training can begin.

Just as soon as I got to the backyard waiting for Espeon, she immediately entered through the back door using her Psychic greeting me with a smile while carrying a large basket full of apples with Psychic.

"Good morning Zackary, I trust you slept and ate well before our training begins?"

"I did, and I am ready to begin training whenever you are ready to teach me." I said, Espeon sat in front of me and set the basket of apples beside her and smiled.

"Good, my apprentice. Once I am finished with you, you shall become knowledgeable in the ways of the forc- I mean Psychic." She used Psychic to pick up an apple from the basket up to her face. "Soon you will be able to lift objects like so, and then control them. Prevent them from leaving your side, crushing them, or perhaps to cleave in two." Espeon sliced the apple in half and passed one of the halves to me. The cut was smooth and clean, I was amazed by what Psychic could do.

"What you saw before you was something I had to train a long time to fully master Psychic. Training in the art of Psychic types ain't exactly a walk in the park. Think of it like a trek up a very steep mountain. It takes time to climb it, preparation and a strong form. Now I don't know what the heck I am talking about half the time, so let's cut right into our first step on training."

"Okay Zackary, today's lesson is about focusing on small objects." She said, levitating an apple from the basket of apples up in front of her. "Now this step is ideal for any beginner Psychic type. If you truly want to learn Psychic type moves from me, then you must do exactly as instructed, unless you want to lose a limb or have your mind completely lost into the deep parts of your mind. Trust me on that one; I have heard stories about Psychic Pokemon losing not only their memories for a while due to a fault when using Psychic, but their minds altogether."

I quickly nodded, unsure a little on how I felt about the last part; losing their minds through some fault with Psychic type's moves or losing a limb. Yeah, I was anxious about that. But with Espeon as my teacher, I had a feeling I would be safe.

Espeon with her Psychic picked up an apple from the basket up to my face. "Today you will focus on this small apple, an easy and simple object to remember by its looks and touch, and perhaps very soon you can focus on an object nearby with ease without so much as touching it and without taking too long to focus on said object leaving you wide open to attacks."

"I'm ready." I said taking the apple with my paws and examining it more closely, looking for any small cuts, bruises or markings I would remember from this apple.

"Look at the apple in your paws. Feel its weight, look at it, and remember its details, from the green dark color and the dark brown stalk of the apple, to the small markings you may find on it. Possible small cuts, bruising, or anything about it you might remember about it." I stared at it closely, trying to remember everything I could about the apple. There weren't anything I could make out of the apple apart from the green skin, no small or large scratches or bruises I could find, only a green apple with a simple brown stalk at the top. Sounds easy enough to remember, a simple and unforgettable thing shouldn't be too hard.

After an hour had passed, Espeon had (thankfully) brought me out of this boring stare down between me and the apple by clearing her throat. "Okay Zackary, on to stage two." Espeon brought the apple out of my paws and set it down on the grass between us.

"All Psychic beginners have access on using Psychic type moves, including you Zackary. Your abilities, your potential is all within you. You just need to awaken those powers. And to do that, you must practice. Within time, this apple, anything you want will levitate with ease. Now close your eyes and think of the apple and only the apple. Remember everything you can about it."

In my mind, I tried to remember the apple, every little detail I picked up, from its green colored skin, the stalk at the top, anything that may help. But staring at this apple nonstop for an hour I had thought I had remembered everything about it, but I could only remember its green color, the stalk and nothing much else. Maybe that was all I needed. I knew this apple, so I figured I wouldn't have any trouble with this.

"Now Zackary, I want you to concentrate all you can on that same apple." Espeon said placing the apple in my paw. "With your other paw, I want you to point at it with your paw and use Psychic to help lift this apple up to your face. Imagine to yourself you are lifting the apple up. Focus on that apple and that alone. Move it." With the apple in my paw other paw, my free paw pointing at said apple, I tried to imagine it to lift up, or move wanting to succeed in any of the two.

In my mind, I had succeeded in lifting the apple up with ease and Psychic was my first move learnt and on to the next one, but sadly in reality the apple never lifted up by my, or even budged an inch. I loosened my grip on the apple hoping I could have a better chance to lift this apple up with Psychic… nothing. I tried to move it again, but this time at a much slower rate trying to budge the apple to move, still nothing happened.

Another hour went by and the apple hadn't budged at all in my paw. Frustrated and tired I dropped the paw onto the grass and hung my head down low, tired and starting to be convinced that this entire Psychic training was meaningless and I could never learn Psychic or any move.

"Espeon, I couldn't do it." I sighed glumly. "Maybe I can't use any moves and that I'm just a Dewott that can never learn any move…"

Espeon using her Psychic lift up the apple and set it down inside the basket and inched closer to me and placing her paws on top of my shoulders. "It's all about recognition, this test I mean." Espeon moved a little back and touched my paw with hers, and smiled. "I believe you can learn Psychic or any move, you just have to practice. When I learnt Psychic, it wasn't just a simple learn to do in a few minutes or an hour, it took me several days to get it. Believe me when I say this; you did well today on focusing on that apple, I could see the look in your eyes at how determined you were on learning Psychic." She smiled again.

"In your mind, you did as I asked you to; focus on that apple and try to lift it up. In time Zackary, I believe you can move that apple, and then pick it up. You just gotta continue on. To use Psychic you must first focus on what you want to use with Psychic; be it they a target to either push, attack and lift up." With her Psychic, she used it to pick up the apple from the basket and brought it up to her mouth, taking a bite out of it, smiling after swallowing it. "Or a nearby apple. So every lesson to learn Psychic, you must try and levitate that apple up to your own mouth and take a bite out of it. We shall practice every day for a couple of hours until you do. If you don't learn by the day's end, then I will take the apple from you. You must without using your paws, legs or words to talk me out of taking your apple; you must lift the apple with your own Psychic and take a bite out of it before I do… don't know why I repeated there, but who cares."

With my confidence up and a smile formed on my face, I thanked her. I would try to learn Psychic, I needed to and many other moves so I could finally be of use should anyone try to attack those I care for and myself. It would be hard, but at least I was finally past the first day of many.

"Focus the mind on using Psychic to lift up light objects first before heavy objects. Not easy or difficult, just safety reasons so no one gets hurt or items break." She said. "Try to practice on a pillow or something. The more you practice, the faster you'll learn Psychic."

* * *

****

**The Second Day**

The second day, a bright and early morning with breakfast and sitting in the backyard while waiting for Espeon to show, train to lift an apple up before she ate it, go back inside and focus the mind and sleeping well was my routine to learn Psychic. Second day in and I already miss my computer… but learning Psychic and using it for cool stuff (not sure what though) will be worth it.

Espeon arrived at nine in the morning with the same basket full of apples the same time as yesterday and the next few or more days until I got Psychic done and over with. Sitting down in front of me and setting the basket of apples down. "Good morning Zackary. I trust you slept and ate well before starting our training session today?"

I nodded. "Not only that, but I focused the mind on using Psychic like you told me to. Clear out interrupting thoughts, and I did attempt to lift my pillow last night. But like with yesterday I never moved anything."

"Good." She smiled, levitating an apple out of the basket. "Now as with yesterday we'll be doing the same thing, but what I failed to mention to you yesterday was about energy control." Taking hold of the apple with my paw now, Espeon held my other paw with hers so that it hovered slightly over the apple. "Same as before Zackary; calming breaths, relax and concentrate on the apple. You want to lift it up. So try and use your paws hovering over the apple, connect your energy from your mind to your paw, help guide the energy towards the apple."

Relaxing, calming breaths and trying my all on concentrating on the apple using my paw to help guide my energy onto the apple to lift it. It was a long process. It was so long that I almost doubted myself. Me a normal human turned Pokemon can learn moves like Psychic? It'll never happen. Then all of a sudden, breaking me from my endless concentration from the apple in my paw, a purple spark emerged at the tips of my fingers. But before I could stop, surprised at what I saw, my entire paw was engulfed by the same purple spark. I stared at my paw; mouth agape almost convinced it was Espeon playing a trick on me. But it wasn't her, it was me doing this. The energy around my paw was… slightly cold, but warm at the same time, it was pleasant.

None of us said a word or made a sound. Slowly, wanting the energy around my paw to remain there longer for me to focus on the apple, I hovered over the apple and in my mind had wanted the fruit to move a little instead of lifting it up. It was the first thing that came to mind. The apple in my paw began to move slightly, often hovering a little and slightly crushed at the sides. But then the energy around my paw faded and the apple fell back into my open paw.

"See Zackary, you could do it all along." She smiled. "On this day, you used Psychic for the first time."

"B-but it only lasted a few seconds." I said, unsure of the weak energy we saw just now. "It barely did anything."

"But it did do something. That just now WAS Psychic, only it was still sleeping and not fully awake." She smiled, levitating the apple from my paw. "During the rest of the week, I will do all I can to help your Psychic finally awaken. SO keep doing what you're doing and that Psychic will wake faster than a sleeping person awaking to the sound of a really loud alarm clock."

* * *

****

**The Third Day**

"Concentrate." She demanded calmly, circling around me as I sat and closed my eyes, breathing calmly and blanking my mind of any thought. "A psychic type can use Psychic type moves without sight. You must focus, stay calm. Use your Pyschic energy and grab an object with it, use it against your foes, or use it to help yourself and others."

Like with yesterday, I felt the flow of energy engulf my paw, aiming it at the apple in my other paw wanting my energy to levitate the apple up towards my mouth and take a bite out of it. Opening my eyes now, the apple was completely surrounded by my newly Psychic powers, now all I had to do was to get it up to my mouth and I could move on to the next step of training.

The apple moved a little, crushed at the side just like yesterday; I thought the same thing would happen; my Psychic going again and Espeon taking the apple. "_C'mon, I can do this. Just breathe, stay calm and-" _I thought in my head before realizing that the apple was moving up. I had done it_!_ Surrounding the apple was the same purple energy around my paw._ "Oh yeah! I did it!" _Then my excitement overtook my concentration. The apple still surrounded by my Psychic began to glow before I even realized it… the apple exploded sending small pieces and its juices everywhere, on to the grass, on me and Espeon's face and body, and some on the kitchen window.

Espeon sighed before licking off the apple juice from her paw. "Let me guess; you got too excited when lifting up the apple after all this time of training?" I slowly nodded, laughing nervously while picking the pieces of apple off my face. Espeon laughed too while using Psychic to pick a few pieces of her and my face piling them up next to the basket. "Yeah, that happened to me a few times… but instead of fruit I used a rock the size of my head. Let's just say the shards ain't exactly a nice thing to pull out of your face…"

"Sorry about that…" I said shifting my eyes away from Espeon's towards the pile of a destroyed apple on the side of us. "When I saw the apple finally move with my Psychic after all this time I just… I got carried away and let my excitement take over when I should've been concentrating."

"There is no need to rush with this Zackary. Take it slow and relax, we have more than enough time to practice." Espeon said as she patted me shoulder with her paw drawing my attention towards her. "Let's try it again, but this time concentrate and try not to let your emotions over take your concentration."

So I tried again with a new apple from the basket doing all I could to stop my emotions from clouding my mind whenever I succeed or failed while attempting to lift or move the apple within my paw. It took time, longer than the last attempt to move the apple. The same thing happened again, the Psychic energy surrounding my other paw hovering next to the apple, and then it moved, and lifted slowly but not all the way up to my mouth like I had wanted it to. It wasn't as though the same thing had happened the first time when my excitement overtook me, it was all I could manage at the time, I was weak, not only in experience, but I was tired.

Before I could push myself further to lift the apple with my already weakening Psychic, Espeon immediately grabbed the apple from my Psychic energy with hers. "That's enough." She said handing me a bottle of water she had stored in the basket with the fruit and berries. "I gotta say Zackary, you did amazingly well for today. But unfortunately today I must eat your apple for not succeeding on eating your apple. But tomorrow, I believe it is time I teach you multi levitation."

"Multi levitation?" I asked, did she mean levitating multiple apples with my Psychic?

* * *

****

**The Forth Day**

"That's right, multi levitation will begin today seeing how you are progressing well with the apple. So let's try a little test today to see if you can do it." Espeon smiled before handing me with her Psychic 5 small pebbles to my paw instead of an apple.

Like with the apple, I focused my energy on the five apples connecting each one with Psychic wanting both of them to lift from the grass resting between me and Espeon as she watched. Shortly, the energy formed at my open paw and I focused on the small pebbles wanting them to lift up. Today, my lesson was to levitate 5 small pebbles to be on equal level with another. I managed to lift three out of five of the pebbles up, struggling to keep them level and often dropping them to the grass. Unlike the apple seeing it as only just one thing to focus on, I had to target five at the same time which proved a little more difficult as I struggled to keep them up.

"Psychic doesn't last forever. So don't get too carried away when using Protect or any other Psychic based move, you can easily run out of them, just like with any other move that isn't Psychic. Know who your target is, how many there are, know your limits. Never become a sitting target free for your opponents to strike, use your moves strategically." Espeon said, helping me with the pebbles by grabbing the ones that dropped and offering them to me so I could grab them with my own Psychic… a very weak Psychic that wouldn't do much in battle or win anything in a contest, but it was something, something I wanted to be stronger. I knew in time my Psychic and other moves would be stronger and better. All of this was to protect not only myself, but those I care for, and others who would be in need of help.

The training for that day ended with me levitating the pebbles up to my face, a very triumphant day for me as I finally got something up at eye level with my very own Psychic… except I only brought up about two out of five pebbles up to my face while the rest levitated lower almost touching the grass. And just like the previous three days, Espeon ate the apple I was supposed to eat should I succeed in training.

I was getting better at using Psychic, Espeon and I both knew this, and soon I would be battle ready.

* * *

****

**The Fifth Day**

Just like yesterday, I was training with the same five pebbles levitating them up towards my face and keep them up together at equal level.

"Let's get down to business, to defeat our foes. Huh!" She sang with a huge grin on her face. "Did they send me Bent Jackson, when I asked for Zack. You ain't the saddest Pokemon I ever met, but you can bet before we're through. Zackary, I'll make a Psychic out of you!"

"Dammit! I should've sung that song at the beginning of our training montage. It would've made this a whole lot better and have more meaning to it… mission failed, I'll get 'em next time."

After another hour the pebbles were at equal level now (kind of) and up in front of our eyes. Espeon smiled before picking up a nearby thin stick and tapped each one to test my Psychic's strength. Four out of the five levitated pebbles almost dropped when tapped by the stick, but the one that didn't fall when tapped remained stuck in place waiting for the other pebbles to levitate evenly beside it.

But I had failed to levitate the pebbles evenly in time before the lesson was over today, so Espeon took the apple. Tomorrows lesson I going back on training my Psychic with the apple again. Sure the pebbles were alright on training with multiple items at once, but focusing on five pebbles at the same was a little tricky than the apples, so I was alright with the sudden change to our training.

* * *

****

**The Sixth Day**

That day I woke up a few minutes earlier than I usually did during our training week, not because I wanted to, I just happened to manage to wake up a little bit earlier than my alarm clock was set to. Getting up out of bed and heading towards the door, instead of using the same old bucket I had used to gain a little more height to reach my door handle, I stood there and focused on the handle using Psychic to try and open it. I knew at the time that I shouldn't use Psychic this early, especially when Espeon wasn't around to supervise me, bad things could happen if I did. But I did it anyway without thinking of the consequences. The energy surrounded my paw and then the handle was engulfed by Psychic, I moved the handle so it could open, halfway now until I could finally pull the door open, almost, and then I heard a click… I could pull the door open. Before I could try and pull it, I felt excitement at the success of me using Psychic to open the door without the use of a bucket this time, but remembering my training with that apple exploding in both mine and Espeon's faces, I quickly calmed myself down before the same thing were to happen to the door. The door then opened slowly but not completely since I stopped using Psychic to open it all the way wanting to conserve my energy for the training with Espeon today.

An hour had passed since I used my Psychic to escape my room, had my breakfast and sat in the garden awaiting Espeon carrying the same basket full of the same type of fruit and berries as the previous days.

Again, just like last time holding the apple in one paw and the other hovering slightly above it, I focused on the apple, and at a much quicker time than before, the apple was engulfed by my Psychic and I lifted it up slowly but often struggled to go up more, sometimes going back down again.

Then slowly just like I wanted it to, the apple was nearing my mouth, and I had to concentrate all my energy to keep the apple up towards my mouth staying there while I waited for the right time to move in. The apple didn't move, never flickered back down or soared the sky, or exploded because of my emotions sparking up at unwanted times. The apple stayed in place as I leaned in towards the apple, I opened my mouth and took a bite out of it. I did it; I finally used Psychic successfully after just six days of training. I was happy about that and so was Espeon smiling at my success. I knew I was happy, but unlike last time when my emotions caused the apple to explode, nothing happened, the apple remained levitating near my mouth still locked in place by my Psychic.

"Congratulations, my apprentice. But you still have much to learn. Now you know how to use it, you must practice every day until you have truly mastered it. Only then will you become a true Psychic type." She cheered with a toothy grin.

"Thank you Espeon." I smiled. "I will continue to practice my Psychic and many more moves in the future."

With her Psychic she levitated the apple away from me and held it close to her face as she examined it more closely. "Let's see… hmm, a little bit crushed near the stalk and at the side near where you first took a bite out of it. But you did really well." She handed the apple back to me with her Psychic, and I took it back with my own, almost crushing the apple again in the process of grabbing it.

"Are you sure you don't want to steal my apple this time, Espeon?" I asked moving the apple closer towards her with my Psychic. She shook her head and held up an Oran berry from the basket.

"Nah." She laughed. "I have been eating apples for almost six days straight… kinda gets tiring after a while. Phew, thank goodness that's all over with. But now that you have succeeded on taking a bite out of the apple by yourself, you must continue with your training. Focus the mind, concentrate and train as much as you can. Tomorrow, I will teach you something a Psychic type like myself, Gardevoir and Latias know all about; accessing the mind."

* * *

****

**The Final Day – Into the Mind**

That day just like the past few days I met up with Espeon in the back yard, only this time she didn't have a basket full of fruits and berries, she had nothing and only sat in front of me with a smile.

"Zack, today marks the first day you become a Psychic type for real now. And to top it all off, all you have to do is pass this test." She said before clearing her throat. "Obviously I don't have apples or pebbles with me for this day of training, because it is all to do with your mind, something I had discovered. And you being a Psychic type, I believe you should also learn about this."

I nodded, accepting to continue with this training involving the mind. I wasn't sure what was about to happen or what this training was about. I was a little anxious about it, but nothing could prepare me for what I was through this training.

"I want you to close your eyes, and empty your mind free of any thought and only focus on the sound of my voice." I closed my eyes, breathed in and out slowly while attempting to block out any thought while focusing on Espeon's voice like she told me. No memory, no thought, everything was blank. "Now Zackary, imagine you are sitting down in the darkness, nothing exists in the plane only you." I did, imagining myself sitting in the dark, nothing else was there with me. But for some strange reason, I couldn't feel the wind anymore. "Zackary, open your eyes. Tell me what you see."

I opened my eyes, Espeon was gone, and I was not in the backyard anymore. Everything was dark; the ground, all around me, and the sky was nothing but pitch black. I thought because of my new Psychic move… I don't know, somehow used Psychic by accident that I lost the use of my eyes and I was now blind. I panicked. But then as I moved my paws up to my eyes, I saw my paws through the darkness, like I could see in the dark if that made sense. "It's dark, there's nothing here… only-"

"Only you can see your entire body as if there is a spotlight shinning down on you?" She finished. "Don't worry; you are not blind if that is what you are thinking."

"What is this place?" I asked reaching out with my paws at anything solid, anxious at this dark world and what was going on. If I wasn't blind, then what was this? Was Espeon using Psychic or some other move to mess around a little?

"Your mind, silly." She giggled. "What you see before you is what I told you to do; empty your mind of thoughts, everything while focusing on my voice. Many Psychics have access to what you see now. Psychic can do this should one need to access some vital information needed later at some point. Access the deepest parts of the mind to search for something either important or to remember things they cherish. Perhaps one could find answers to unsolved dilemmas."

"Why are you showing me this?" I asked, hoping the dark world would quickly cease and I would be back at the back yard again, Espeon in front of me, the blue sky above, back in my back yard again.

"When you were still a human Zackary, I had no knowledge of this dark place or accessing the mind. Then Latias came to me one day and told me all about it after another Psychic type long ago told her about it." I heard her voice as it echoed throughout the dark place. "Within the dark place, accessing the mind isn't the only thing you can do here. But what you can do here is to improve on your Psychic training."

"So whenever I have free time, I can just close my eyes, do the same mind blank focus thing and I'll be here to improve my Psychic type moves?"

"Correct. So how about we start a little test to see if you can use your mind to create things to assist you on your training then?"

"Okay, so what do I do first?" I asked looking all around me for anything else other than darkness.

"Within the dark place, you can think of anything or anyone to appear within your mind. Listen to music you have listened to before, revisit a past memory of happier times or to remember something important, something you may want to go back and explore. Or if you have a photogenic memory you can watch movies you have watched before." Her voice echoed throughout my mind as I sat there looking around in the dark for anything to appear. But nothing did. "In order for you to get anything to appear, you must first focus on what you want, remember what it looks like, sounds or feels like. With your mind, try to imagine an apple appearing in front of you just like what we did for training."

I sat there imagining the same apple, same color and weight I had got to know throughout my seven day training, and like a snap of a finger the apple I had thought up appeared floating in front of me. "I did it!"

Reaching out towards the apple, I could touch and feel its weight within my paw, like this apple was real. "The weight of the item before you is a memory of an apple you have touched and held recently." Espeon said as I examined the apple more closely. "In the dark place, you can imagine anything to appear. I am not going to ask you to view a memory or anything private or whatever. Just play a round a little; something small like an image you know by heart or your favorite meal on a plate just how you like it."

I imagined… another apple again next to the other one in my other paw. After almost a full week of staring at an apple for hours a day, they couldn't get out of my mind. Within a day or two I can actually think of something else and try out new things while I am here.

"A bit of a warning within the dark place just a heads up; try not to think of scary things or unsettling imagery to appear. Believe me on this one, in here they look so real and convincing half the time you almost forget where you are. You may accidentally stand while attempting to escape their realistic threatening pursuits or jump scares."

Hearing that in the darkness of imagining scary things to appear in there had me a little worried. Being in this place; my mind to help me train with my Psychic more and allow me to view past memories would prove useful, but I didn't want to be watching a nice memory or training until all of a sudden I look back and there is this monster right behind me, something that might scare me so much I might get up and either attack or run away from it.

"Remember Zackary; for whatever reason you might have when being within the dark place; you must never ever stand up from your position or linger within your mind for too long. Bad things could happen to Psychic types who do persist longer than they should or attempt to wander the mind. You could get lost within it, trapped within a maze so deep within your mind you may never be able to escape. I have met a few Psychic types during our adventures together whom have had their minds altered, memories whipped clean, who they were, who mattered to them, everything gone."

To enter this dark place, Espeon instructed me how; all I needed to do was sit down, close my eyes, clear my mind of any thought, clear everything with calming breaths as I begun slowly to imagine myself sitting with the dark place until I could open my eyes. They way I had to come back out into the real world was to do the same. Close my eyes. Clear my mind of all thoughts, and then imagine myself back to where I was sitting; in my back yard with Espeon in front of me.

When I knew I did the right thing, I opened my eyes; I was back in my yard happy again to see Espeon and light.

"Nice work Zackary, I'm proud of you!" She jumped up at me wrapping her forelegs in for a tight hug, I hugged back. "After everything, a tiresome week passed, you finally learnt Psychic! Now how's about we call it a day and order pizzas to celebrate, what do you say?"

"Sure." I smiled, letting go of Espeon so she could stand up straight and walk together towards the house.

A week just to learn Psychic… phew, that was tiresome but hopefully worth it should I ever encounter people or Pokemon who want to catch or fight me. But I knew I couldn't just stop at only one move, no. I had to learn more. The second move I had learnt was Protect from Espeon again.

This move was a little easier to learn because of Psychic, took me about three days to get it right without popping the Protect bubble before the impact from Espeon's endless barrage of beanbags at me. Then afterwards, I had learnt from Espeon that I could merge Protect with another Pokemon that could us Protect to create a more powerful and larger version of that move so more could fit inside the bubble protecting more than one.

The next move I had learnt after that was Razor Shell from Dewott, and Water Pulse from Totodile. Razor Shell like on trying to learn Psychic for the first time was time consuming but not as long only lasting four days of hours of slashing with my scalchop at a make believe enemy standing in front of me Dewott had told me to focus on… again with focusing. First I had to find my own form and fighting style every Oshawott and Dewott had, my form was a lot of slashing and thrusting motions while only using one scalchop at a time.

Water Pulse was… surprisingly easy to learn this time, I mean it didn't take as long as the other moves with this one only last a day and a half. Most of it involved relaxing in the laboratory lake, absorbing the water and trying to harness the power within ourselves to form up a water type move (yeah, or something like that will work?)

All of those moves weren't exactly perfect and often sloppy when used, but it was better than nothing and would defiantly prove useful for any confrontations I may have later on.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

I originally wanted multiple characters teaching Zack moves he could try out, but instead I focused instead on one character at a time to make way for a future chapter.


	11. Chapter 11 Search History

**AN: Warning; this chapter will contain a suggestive scene and will not detail anything explicit to make this story rated M. Yeah, I'm not doing anything like this again. Enjoy!**

Chapter 11 - Search History

* * *

****

**Zack's Room – Espeon's POV**

Working nonstop just to help Zackary to learn a psychic type move with an apple all week really did take a lot out of me. So what better way than to relax than sit back, relax and watch some cool videos online in Zack's room.

So after sneaking out the laboratory garden with Latias to Zackary's house and up into his room through an open upstairs window to ask if we could hang out for the day and eat snacks nonstop, we found no one inside his room or anyone else in the house. So it was only us to browse the internet, watch videos and eat whatever we could find from the fridge, which was absolutely nothing!

Since no one was in the house except for me and Latias at the moment and there being no food anywhere to be found, we assumed they went out earlier to get something and would be back soon, and the snacking will then commence. So after logging onto Zackary's computer (with no password might I add) and opening up the page to surf the web, our first location was a site known for a lot of videos, comedy, music, video game walkthroughs, tutorials on how to do this and that, and so on.

Our first video was a random click on top trending videos of the week, a video with several million views of a compilation of so-called 'Try not to laugh compilations' so this was probably good… and it was. The video lasted more than twenty minutes and each clip of the video had both of us laughing with so many tears spilt. Then our next video was another compilation of something called a 'Meme' list, I don't know. So that was fun, on to the next one we go. The next few videos were Pokemon battles gone wrong, movie bloopers, movie trailers and a crazy rant by some shirtless guy claiming Team Annihilation were the good guys and The Savior's are evil incarnate. After just five whole seconds of hearing his so-called 'Truth' video we gave him his thirty thousandth dislike with his like count lower than his actual IQ.

So you think after many videos later searching the web page we would find something amazing to keep us occupied, but alas we couldn't. Bored combined with hunger, we ran out of things to do, things to watch. "I believe we have watched all that there is to watch on this site…" Latias sighed, scrolling down the page to find a video we could watch next, but there wasn't.

"Wanna watch that first funny video again?" I suggested, wanting to continue with our relaxation not wanting our fun to end so soon. It was a hilarious video we watched only once, so watching it again may prove to be still hilarious. At least watching the video again could give us more ideas on what to watch next; a movie perhaps, more funny videos I'm sure we'll find hidden on the next page or two, or perhaps we'll uncover gold with a video we'll last hours on.

Latias nodded in excitement as she used the mouse with her paw this time rather than her Psychic to move it. But unfortunately, Latias when touching the mouse clicked on something. "Oh no!" Latias screamed as she accidentally pressed the exit button of the page, forcing us back onto the desktop again. We stared at it in silence as if waiting a little more the page would come back up again, but it didn't. Clicking on the link again to go back on the internet we found ourselves right at the start again 'A SEARCH ENGINE!' Hitting the back key did nothing, didn't bring us back to the recent video or back to the video we wanted. Even after going back to that website it didn't have any link to that hilarious video anymore, even after many refreshes later still nothing.

"I'm sorry Espeon, I lost the video!" She cried, trying to pull at the mouse wire from the computer in a fit of both rage and sadness over the loss of the video… over dramatic much?

"Uh… Latias?" I said yanking the mouse out of her mouth and nudging her with my paw. "The video isn't lost, we can still find it again by using; ahem, 'Search History' just like the title of this chapter."

"Search history?" She replied, watching as I moved the cursor over to the settings bar and clicking history, the age loaded and a list of every single page visited since the beginning up to now appeared on the page.

So in order to find that video we lost we used 'Search History' where else would we find our previously visited sites from the beginning to now? After a few turns to the wheel to move down the page, we finally found the video we just watched. Hovering the mouse pointer onto the video link to watch it again, Latias stopped me and pointed out a few other links to a different website me or Latias wasn't familiar with. The title of each link said different things like 'Hot Nurses' and one called Girl on Girl Action each one on the same web called 'Hot Vids' all visited a month ago.

"What the heck is this site?" Latias asked staring at me. "'Hot' 'Action' Is this website some kind of fighting site?"

"Maybe, although I never thought Zack would be interested in fighting videos. Perhaps since he is a Pokemon now he probably had an interest on learning how to fight." I Shrugged about to click on the video to rewatch the video again.

"Let's see what it is, it might be fun." She said moving the mouse with her paw at the video link. Oh boy, does this tale get interesting…

"Let's see what we have here…" I muttered as I used Psychic on the mouse to navigate through the uploaded page and read the title page to Latias as she looked at the other videos below along with the flashing adds. "'Hot Vids The world's number one adult site for amazing high quality vids'….."

"Espeon, use the mouse to scroll down a page, there is this flashy image at the side here." Latias said, pointing with her claw at an image at the side of the web page. It was an image flashing on and off endlessly wanting anyone to click on the image to purchase some drug of some kind. "'Turbo Pills'" I read as I scrolled down the page to view the flashy image and its text. "'Gain unlimited energy for a wonderful night'….. Why would anyone need pills to restore energy for night time? Don't people usually go to sleep at night?"

"Eh, who knows why. Night shifts I guess."

After a few more minutes on this odd flashy site, we eventually found the highest rated 'movie' on the site and a video Zackary had already two weeks ago. "'Girl on Girl Action'…. Must be some kind of fighting video, but for humans? Didn't realize Zack was into that kind of thing." Latias said, watching as I clicked on it and waited a long time for it to buffer.

"I never knew Zackary did like fighting videos either. I guess since he did turn into a Dewott he wants to see how others fight to prepare for any confrontations." I shrugged, scrolling down the page to the comments while waiting for the video to load. "Now let's see what people say about this video and why it's so good to have almost ten million views."

Almost seven hundred comments, the two Pokemon started with the highest rated comment, then the next one, and the next confused by the words and phone numbers some left to call. "I guess some of these dorks really want to get their asses handed to them… not sure why they want to be beaten up in the first place."

" 'OMG, beest vid outta here yo site man!?'" Latias read from the comments, sounding more confused as she read more. " 'Any girl out there wanna hit me up? Email me for some good times!' I don't get this. Why are they talking like this?"

"Look at this one 'Like OMG this vid made me come' clearly this guy doesn't know grammar. It should be 'OMG, this vid is the reason I came to this site, thumbs up.' Go back to school moron!" I yelled as I disliked the guy's comment, unsure why the guys message got more likes than dislikes (forty one out of three, seriously, who likes these idiots?)

" 'The best part was when she broke the window with her heel LOL' What does LOL mean?" Latias asked while scrolling back to the top of the page having had enough of the confusing comments with their bad grammar.

"I have been around humans a lot in my time; I think it means 'laugh out loud' or something similar, i don't know."

"So if this person in the video breaks a window, the person in the comments said that the scene was funny, so keep an eye out for that."

The audio was heard first after the buffering had vanished leaving a dark screen until the view of a house in some rich neighborhood appeared. "Oooh, fancy place. Too bad this house will be messed up badly because of upcoming fight."

….

The scene; house interior, a woman mid 30s wearing a bright red dress and heels sitting on the couch in a living room reading from a book. She was distracted by the sound of someone else approaching from the door; a younger woman early 20s appeared crying sitting on the couch next to her. The two women talked about how the crying woman was upset about how her boyfriend had apparently cheated on her with an oil tycoon who was also a crime lord who travelled back in time… yeah this plot doesn't make any sense. After five minutes of this, I sighed obviously bored and confused how this video had reached ten million views and was the highest rated video on the site.

"Jeez, the acting in this is so terrible. Where did they find these two? The dime store for wooden actors?" only a few minutes in and I already hated this video. Why was this video the highest rated one on this site?

"Eh, it's the fight scene I'm interested in." Latias smiled, nudging me lightly to cheer up with her. "Don't worry Espy, this video will be good. When we see this fight, we gotta check this site out for more like this."

Then after from what seemed like a million years of dry conversation about how this and that happened yada yada, the older woman in the video stood up in front of the other woman and carelessly tore off her dress and threw it away into a nearby trashcan and did the same to the younger woman.

"Uh… why did that older woman take off her dress and throw it away carelessly into the trashcan like that? Don't people usually like clothes? I got that from all the TV I watch." I asked again confused at the scene.

"Maybe the dress would be in the way for the fight." Latias said also confused at what they were watching. The video showed the two women get close to one another now hugging and saying sweet things to one another and how much they loved each other.

"Now they are hugging? What the heck kind of fight is this?" I asked, using the mouse cursor to click on the dislike button clicking it multiple times. I hated THIS video! "The acting is bad, the house is fine, and the music is off for a fighting video. This is pure click bait at its finest!" I said angrily, about to hit the close button at the top right.

"M-maybe it's just a way for the two fighters to prepare themselves for the amazing fight that is to come-" Latias said wanting to see more of the video, hoping that I wouldn't click the close button for the 'fight' to start any second now. And I wish I did…. 

**Music plays**

**Me and Latias: :0**

Yeah, this wasn't a fighting video….

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – Home**

It was nice helping around at the bakery, especially with my new moves I could reach hard to reach areas like the top of shelves or carry heavy boxes with my Psychic. But before I could settle down in Nuvema Town there was one thing I needed to do before that; I needed to ask my mom and sister Yuri how they would feel if I were ever in a relationship. I had asked my friends a week ago and the majority of them seemed okay on the subject. Me and Latias have spent a lot of time together over the past few weeks now and if things did work out between us, I wanted to know if my family would be alright with it and not cause arguments or distance us, I was afraid of that.

With my friends I was nervous about talking to them, but with my family I was more anxious than anything. Just one wrong word or phrasing later and they would look at me with disgust in their eyes or hate me. I didn't know when to ask them, I needed more time.

It was a little part-time job I got at the bakery, moving boxes in the back and cleaning up a little. My mom's co-worker was a friend she had known since high school, Anne I believe. Or was it Amanda? Well anyway, she was nice and often talked about how she wanted to see the Kalos region again after her last visit during her honeymoon several years ago. I remembered going there on vacation with Lisa and Brent for two weeks just after our mission involving the time portals and defeating Infinite. She talked about places from the Kalos region I hadn't visited before, we only visited Ambrette Town and nowhere else, from her descriptions of different towns, cities and landmarks of the Kalos region, I wish had seen those places. Since Latias had said a week ago during our talk on the hill, she did want to go and visit new places. So perhaps we could go again and see more. After Isaac would stop on his search within the Unova region, maybe we could start our exploration through different regions? A long vacation, no more missions, no more Annihilation wannabes, just us and relaxation.

After my work was done at the bakery I walked back to the lab to check up on Latias and ask her if she was still interested on exploring different regions. After arriving, Gardevoir after a few attempts to draw her attention away from her dictionary told me both Latias and Espeon walked over to my house wanting to fill up on snacks and watch funny videos online, something Gardevoir wasn't clearly interested in and wanted to read from her dictionary some more.

Arriving back home, my mom had just arrived from the store filling the fridge and cupboards with various foods and such. She told me Latias and Espeon were upstairs in my room watching online videos. I thought nothing of this and walked upstairs to check up on them…

Opening my bedroom door with the assist from my Psychic move, I saw both Latias and Espeon with a shocked look on both of their faces still staring at the screen in front of them. Before I could ask what it was they were watching, that was when I heard… uh, noises… yeah. Walking to the side of them and watching what was displayed on the monitor, they were watching an adult rated video… something I watched before… yeah.

The video ended shortly after silencing the entire room, leaving all three of us in an awkward situation.

After some time had passed, Espeon got up from the chair, with a blush on her face. "Uh…" She smiled awkwardly. "I'm just gonna go down and uh… eat, yeah, that is what I shall do." She quickly said before walking out of the room to the downstairs living room while Latias remained levitating in front of the desk.

After hearing Espeon walk downstairs providing us with some privacy _"Okay, so what do I say to move on from this?" _I thought trying to find some way to get out of this awkward situation. The video on the monitor was one I recognized (Ah jeez…) so the only way Latias and Espeon could find it was from my search history, something they used and found the link to the website._" 'Everyone does it?' Oh man, don't say that… 'bored?' Hell no! 'I did it as a dare for some reason' Okay, that's dumb… c'mon you idiot, think of something."_

Then Latias cleared her throat before shifting her eyes back to the screen, taking me out of my thoughts and into reality now, this awkward reality. "How about we forget any of this ever happened and go downstairs and grab a few snacks not before picking out a movie we could watch?" She asked closing the page using the mouse with her Paw.

"Uh… y-yeah, sounds good to me." I said while trying to laugh this whole thing off… no amount of laughing could help me forget this... I even forgot to ask Latias if she was still interested on going to different regions that day. So the entire rest of the day was us three eating snack while watching videos (Not those kind of videos) and movies. I thought because of this awkward start of the evening that this entire day would make us feel awkward to be around each other, surprisingly it didn't and we had fun for the entire day.

Tomorrow I would have the conversation with my family and try once more with Lisa and Brent. And soon after that, I would have to break the news to not only my friends, but my family about me and Latias.

To be continued... 

* * *

**Trivia:**

This chapter was originally meant to be a Side Story sometime later after I had completed this story. I was about to start with Team Doom showing up starting up the adventure part of the story, but i didn't have time to complete it so here ya go.


	12. Chapter 12 Secret No Longer

**an: trying to upload more chapters than just once every week, trying to aim for two or perhaps three since i have already wrote up to twenty chapters now. i really don't want to keep you guys waiting almost a full year to read all chapters. Enjoy.**

Chapter 12 – Secret No Longer

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – Home**

Left, right, up, down, the floor, the walls, the sky, everything dark except my entire body as if it were illuminated by an unseen light. I was in the dark place again, fifth time to be precise each time practicing on honing my Psychic type moves to be stronger and they were when I first learnt them, but being here training wasn't the only thing I did.

I tried to remember their faces, my friends; Cleo and Rhys. Years ago before the time crisis started, a month after Team Annihilation was defeated; I met two people about my age. They told me they were also Savior members who joined up recently. So as the weeks passed I got to know them and we became friends quickly. They liked the same things that I did, video games, food, movies, you name it. Then before I knew it, I started to harbor feelings for Cleo, often teased about it by Rhys singing the kissing in tree song (I don't know what that is called.) and butting in on our alone time a few times. I remember when Cleo wanted to know if I would want to go with her to a rock museum with her in Driftveil City soon for a new exhibit. Rocks were sort of her hobby. Then I got the call for my next mission to begin, ending our time together until the next time we met, which was our last.

Over the duration of the mission travelling through time to defeat these monsters we called Anomalies before they could capture and kidnap people and Pokemon of that era to be used as Infinite's food source to live for eternity, I later met up with Cleo and Rhys again and hung out at the Pewter city until the mission was resumed, then after some time had passed, I learnt that Cleo and Rhys were Anomalies created by Infinite as spies for his army to find our weaknesses and prevent us from succeeding in on our mission. But the two resisted and tried to fight it, but in the end they died, fading away into nothingness just like the Anomalies did when defeated in battle. Not only did their bodies vanish, bus everyone who knew them and all photos of them were gone, like they never existed… but I was the only one who still remembers them.

Every time I tried to remember their faces, their faces were slightly visible behind some kind of static of some kind, I don't know. I concentrated so that only Cleo remained standing in front of me saying something I couldn't make out in a voice that wasn't hers. I reached out my paw towards her wanting to hold her hand again, but I couldn't even remember what that was like anymore. Espeon told me that I could remember things like that in here, but I couldn't figure out why I couldn't with Cleo or Rhys. Was it that I needed more practice within the dark place, that I needed to become stronger with Psychic abilities? Or maybe it was the universe or some divine intervention trying to rid of their existence completely?

When my paw never reached her hand, I almost made the mistake Espeon taught me not to do while in this state; I almost stood up. I could've lost everything, maybe lost within this place forever. I could never concentrate hard enough to get Cleo to inch a little bit closer towards me or strike up a conversation, play a game or two while using a voice I could only assume that was what she sounded like. I could only sit there and watch from afar staring at this fuzzy memory of Cleo slowly fading while staring back at me with what I assumed was a smile through a blur.

I feared within a year I would forget what they looked like completely, and that tomorrow I would just move on forgetting everything about them like they never existed. I didn't want to forget them… they were my friends, and I hated how they mattered a lot to me, and yet I was slowly forgetting them, what they looked like, their voices, I didn't know what to do but train to become stronger with my Psychic. Maybe then I could gain access to the deeper parts of my mind in search for what they looked like.

* * *

The next day after sleeping I would have the talk with my family and the remainder of my friends; I wanted their opinion on if I can be in a relationship with anyone because of my new form. Would they be alright with it? Would they still want to talk or have anything to do with me?

Afterwards, me and Latias planned to meet up with everyone else to tell them the news; me and Latias were officially a couple.

Almost a month had passed since Latias kissed me that night on the hill, the catalyst for starting up my questioning of my relationships and of course training myself to protect those I care for. Before, I was just a human turned Dewott unsure how I felt about her, if I truly did love her at all, questioning to myself if this was acceptable for me, that I was okay with this. But as I got to know her, talk with her, I saw her in a completely different way than I had before. We talked about it before sometime after training, we were willing to become an official couple, and so the biggest step for us was to tell the others about us and then move on from there. If it was a positive response from them, we would be happy to know they were alright with us. If the outcome was negative, something I was expecting to happen with one or two of them despite what they told me before that they were okay with it, well I would be afraid of their actions, or how they would react to the news. I didn't want to lose anyone, I just hoped with the news to the others later that day would go well.

* * *

****

**Yuri Amano**

The first person I spoke to that day was with my sister Yuri in her bedroom still organizing her equipment before leaving for the academy or school… whatever it was soon with her friends. I didn't know how to ask her, and I didn't want her to be upset or see me as someone she didn't like because of what I was now, even after me and Latias (mostly me because of Latias' language difference with my family) spoke to them and told them of our relationship.

"_Maybe I should start with mom first instead of Yuri. After hearing what I had to tell her, she might run off downstairs and tell mom about this when I wanted to do it myself."_ I thought when I took a seat at the edge of her bed staring at the door preparing myself to head downstairs having second thoughts about starting off with Yuri first feeling a little nervous. Then again, it might go so well with mom, so I might as well finish this off with Yuri and move on to mom later once I regain my courage.

"So Zack, what do you need?" She asked setting her letter from the Art school she would be going to soon, providing information of what she needed to bring with her to start her enrolment there. "It's been a while since we last spoke like this. So how are things? Seen you hang out with your Pokemon since you got back. What's it like, talking with your Pokemon?"

"Well, it was surprising at first being able to understand them, listening in on their conversations, joining in. It's kind of like they are speaking our language. I still get surprised whenever I hear a new Pokemon I have never met before speak; I don't know if I ever will." And I still do, it has been something that surprises me even to this day, each Pokemon I speak to have their own voices, accents, and personalities I wouldn't have understood them if I were human.

"Lucky, I wish I could understand them. What do they even talk about?" She asked shifting at her side of the bed to fully face me.

"Regular stuff mostly. The kind of things you'd hear from people; favourite pastime, something that has gained their interests, a new move they have learnt. And that's not even half of what they talk about." I explained, lifting up a pillow from Yuri's bed with my Psychic. "What's interesting to hear from them are the methods on how they train to learn new moves. Like for me for example, I spent an entire week out in the garden with Espeon trying to lift up an apple up to my face to take a bite out of it before Espeon took it. It was a long process, and I thought I would never get that apple to move at first. But as you can see I succeeded."

Then I asked her the question I was anxious of talking about in front of not only Yuri, but everyone else I had talked to. Everyone reacted different than the last, most accepting, some unsure about it. it started with 'Can I ask you something?' then followed by the question I had asked everyone else. Then after I asked her, silence immediately followed between us two, and then she spoke.

"Is it something you have had in mind since you got back?" She asked, I nodded my head in response. Well after I got back and… Latias kissing me at the festival, but I never told her that.

"What would you think if I were in a relationship with a human? Would that seem odd to you now that I am a Pokemon? Or should I stick with Pokemon because I am one?"

"I'm not going to sugar coat it; but I suppose it would seem a little odd if I saw some person with a Pokemon, not knowing who they are." She said fidgeting with her fingers, sounding uncomfortable with each second passed. "If it were someone I knew, like you for example, I don't know how I would react. If it were a girl, a human girl you were with, knowing what species you were before the change, I guess uh I'd be alright with it, I don't know." She said with an obvious hint of uncertainty in her voice. "But if you were in a relationship with a Pokemon, now that would be weird. Cause you; you were born human and not Pokemon. But I would listen to you if you did want to start a relationship with someone, I won't ignore you or shun you away from me."

I had hoped by the time when it came for me to reveal to her and mom about my relationship with Latias they would accept it, and everything being 'normal' again. I could only hope. With each of my friends and family talked with about if they would be alright with seeing me ever in a relationship with any species, I felt a lot more relieved than I was back when I first starting asking them. Now comes the last of my friends, my mom, and then me and Latias will speak to everyone about us.

* * *

****

**Ayaka Amano**

Then came the hardest part of the talk that day, the one person I wanted to speak to last or whenever I was ready for it. But since she was already in the house on a day off from work at the bakery and I had just finished with Yuri, I might as well and get this over and done with. Not knowing how I should start the conversation off without being too obvious that I was already in a relationship.

Sitting on the couch in the kitchen eating a sandwich helped me to prepare myself for the conversation.

"Hi Zack, do you want to come to the bakery on Friday to help out? We got a few things out back you could help out with." She asked setting down a glass of orange juice for me and her to enjoy.

Now my preparation for the conversation flew right out of the window. Her smile, the way things were going this morning, I didn't want to ruin it with this talk.

I shook my head after gulping the entire glass of orange juice. "I don't know, I'll talk to you later after I check with the Savior's whether or not they want me to come down to the city soon. It's been a while since I last heard from them." I lied, not sure if I would be welcomed to work in the bakery again if I did tell her.

So I had to do it another time, tomorrow this time. First thing I would do was to walk over the laboratory and bring Latias over. Then we could talk together, and about us. I just wanted to live in a house were everything was normal, no anger, no disgust, how everything was before.

* * *

****

**Lisa Rivers**

Sitting at my desk in my bedroom in front of my computer screen, I set up the phone to call Lisa from her desk in the Savior's Sinnoh branch. During my training, I was surprised to hear from Lisa saying she tried to contact me multiple times now since she just finished up with her mission north of the Sinnoh region. She would be free of any missions for a week, but because I found this message that day, I already missed a few days and could only speak with her for three. Not seeing her since we our final day of vacation within the Kalos region, only reading her messages through emails, only hearing her voice through a phone. I don't know why, but I expected to see the same Lisa Rivers I last saw appear on the monitor; short neck length blue hair, pale skin, and a plain jacket. But as the monitor flickered a little, I saw a face I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Zack, hello! It's great to see you. How have you been?" Still the same hair, nothing changed except her new clothing, a shirt, so far, still same old same old.

"Well, apart from my change from a human to a Dewott, I would say everything is great. And yourself?" I asked. "Like, how are things within the Sinnoh region?"

"So far so good, the cities are safe, no portals have appeared since we last saw them. Yep, nothing but me and my team going out on missions doing this and that without much vacations so far." She sighed resting her arms on the desk, but her bored expression turned into a smile full of happiness as she lifted up a piece of paper showing me the front, the words 'congratulations' at the top center. "I was promoted to Rank 01 today! Woohoo!" she cheered, drawing some attention from her colleagues from the other desks.

Rank 01 was the highest rank a Savior member could achieve. You get more pay, freedom to choose where you want to go on missions (regions) or what job you want to do next within the Savior's; teacher to learn the new recruits, a team leader, or a board member. Not many Savior members get to Rank 01 within the first ten years of joining, and Lisa joined when she was fifteen; four years before I joined at the age of fourteen, so seven years later she became a Rank 01. I was happy for her, and I almost expected her to use this promotion as a means to come over to the Unova region, so we could finally see each other face to face after so long. But then I realized something else about the promotion; the ceremony.

Every six months the Savior's announce a promotion ceremony for a Savior member or members who reach a new rank. It would usually last one or two weeks depending on how many members were to rank up. She would be busy with them, then moving on to what position she would like to take up on, which would take a while. It was a shame she couldn't make it, but I was happy for her. We could always meet up again at a much later time.

"Congratulations Lisa, I knew you would reach 01. You did it!"

"I couldn't have done it without you Zack, or Brent. How is he? Have you heard from him recently?" She asked. I shook my head.

"Not yet, but I do plan on talking with him after i… because of something…I wanted your opinion on something." I said, nervousness growing inside as Lisa sat silently and stared at my eyes. Through a monitor or face to face, this wasn't easy, but I had to tell her before someone else did. So, how would I tell her? How would I start it off?

"Lisa, I'm a Pokemon now, a Dewott. Professor Guard from his research after I had turned into a Pokemon told me that my entire human DNA is now replaced by Pokemon. Not only can I understand the language of Pokemon, eat their food without spitting it back out, berry or not. I can also learn moves of a Pokemon." I said, picking up a pencil on the desk with my Psychic showing it to Lisa in front of the camera. "At first I didn't know how I would manage with this new form, everything would change. There was one thing I never thought about until a few weeks back, but it was who or what I could get into a relationship because of my form. What is acceptable? Can I get into one like this? Lisa, do you think it is alright for me to get into a relationship with a human, or a Pokemon?"

Lisa glanced to the side at the sudden movement of another Savior member walk past her and out of the room Lisa was in. She thought for a moment before answering my question.

"I guess I would be wondering about that myself if I were turned into a Pokemon, or if it happened to anyone. If you do decide to go in a relationship with anyone you love whatever species, I'll be happy with your choices."

"Why?" I asked. "Doesn't it bother you that I am a different species instead of a human? If people saw me with another human, I don't know… they would probably be disgusted by it, but with a Pokemon; they would just see it as normal. But what about those who know me, what would they say then?"

"You shouldn't be locked out from ever having a relationship because of what you are now." She said. "After everything we have been through together, who am I to just up and abandon my friend. If you do however fall in love with a human, you have to be careful with expressing your love to her, especially when relationships like this are hated upon. But if you do however find a Pokemon you are in love with, treat her well. I will be fine with whatever your decision is and will stick by your side when things go bad."

"Thank you Lisa…" I was about to say more, about me and Latias now in a relationship with one another, or just starting to. But for now, I felt as though that what I had just asked of her was enough for one day. I would speak to her again another time to let her in on the news.

After that, me and Lisa spoke about how each other is doing; missions with the Savior's such as interesting stories or teams we were a part of. Even bringing up something I had forgotten about for a while. Before I was turned into a Dewott, after finishing off with a mission in another region, I was on my way back home until Clark had contacted me about wanting to speak with me about something, to ask me something important, a new mission, I don't know. If it was important, Clark would've told me by now or at least sent me an email about it… guess it was nothing important.

* * *

****

**Brent Jackson**

"Well, well. Ain't you a sight for sore eyes? How ya been my man? Oh sorry, my Dewott dude?" He laughed. After speaking with Lisa, I immediately contacted another of my friends, another Savior member of the Kanto region; Brent Jackson. He's quite the large guy for his age, mid twenties I think, almost six foot tall, and not just in height, but he was also muscular, a sight at first I thought was pretty intimidating when I first met the guy, but through all that he's a nice guy once you get to know him. He still had the same spiky red hair I last saw him with a few years back, and almost the same red goatee, only larger. He was wearing a formal suit, unlike his usual attire of shirts with a few food stains here and there.

"Hey Brent, what's with the costume?"

"Going to a party tonight. These Savior bigwigs here are havin' a buinsess party of some sort." He said as he fixed his tie. "And because of what I have done in the past while travelling with you guys, I am always at the top of the list to attend to these things and speak with other members of old fools I ain't never had to speak to before, all smilin' and nodding while they talked endlessly 'bout this and that, while me standing there and watching from afar the food table slowly emptying after each visit… *sighs* so, have they reeled you in yet with a new mission soon?"

"No, not yet." I replied. "Ever since I turned into a Dewott, they have remained silent about me coming back."

"I'm surprised; Unova's hero gets a good long vacation off from the Savior's while getting the others to work instead. I'd expected them to call you into action by now and see what it is they could do with a human turned Pokemon on their team now. Infiltration missions as a Pokemon, Ingenious, well a part from your fur bein' all white and eyes giving ya a massive giveaway to look out for… probably only last once or twice."

"Being away has given me some time to think about things, with my future with the Savior's I mean, maybe this is a sign that I should end my career with them and do something else. Like you said before; infiltration missions, I would be well known out there. And I don't think I would be ready to return quite yet." I said holding up my paw to the camera moving my three fingers. "I still haven't gotten used to this yet."

"Three fingers, eh?" He chuckled, trying to use three fingers without the use of his thumb to pick up an apple from his desk. "Yep, gonna have some trouble with that if it happened to me. So you keep practicing with your new fingers there, Zack."

"That's not the only thing I have been practicing in my new form, I can also do this." I added, showing him using my Psychic as I lifted up the pencil I showed Lisa earlier up to the camera. "Espeon taught me Psychic and Protect. She also taught me how to access my mind, kind've like extra training for my Psychic if I want and much more."

"Ah, so are ya still travellin' 'round with that Espeon of your's, kid?" He whistled. "She always was the crazy kind, the fun kind is what I am tryin' to say. Her taunts, odd so-called 'breaking the fourth wall' she was fun to hang out with, I gotta admit."

I didn't have much time today, as much as I would've liked to talk to Brent more, and Lisa, I had a lot of things to do today. And after I had asked my question to Brent, I was worried that this might be our last time we would have a conversation like this, that he didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore… _"May as well get this over with"_ I thought.

"Uh, Brent? Can I ask you something?" He nodded, and so immediately I began talking to him about my changes, understanding all Pokemon I have met so far, learning moves I never thought I could, and the obvious question I have asked the others; what species can I be in a relationship if I am a Pokemon now instead of a human. Like with Lisa, I didn't tell him about me and Latias, not yet at least. I wanted for them to be together so I could reveal the news to them then and there with Latias beside me. I expected there to be questions or something along the lines of 'Oh, why I don't know man, that's totally whack' (I don't know.) or confused about it all, maybe even say they are uncomfortable with this and sign out. But instead I got this…

"Why d'ya ask? Wait! Hold the phone man! Are you telling me that during your Psychic training with Espeon that you are… are you in a relationship with that there Espeon?! You can do better Zack!" He shouted. And just like with Lisa attracted several Savior agents nearby to Brent's desk.

"W-what? No. I'm not in a relationship with-" It was all I could say before Brent interrupted me by holding up his left hand to show me a scar on his wrist.

"See that there? That" His scar was only one centimeter's across, you could barely see it. "That right there is proof that Espeon ain't the one my dude, probably find some other cool gal out there." Espeon was the one who did give him that scar, but it wasn't on purpose. During our vacation in the Kalos region, we were watching a movie at the movie theater, a horror film we just randomly watched to pass the time. I was sitting in the middle; Lisa was sitting next to me on my right, Espeon on the left, and Brent sitting next to her with his arm on the armchair. And of course a horror film is meant to be scary; a few occasional jump scares every now and then. Then came one scene I don't recall much of that movie, but it did freak us out, Espeon a lot jumping at the edge of her seat waving her forelegs around trying to not fall off the edge. She didn't as she managed to sink her claws into the armchair… or so she thought it was the armchair. Screaming alongside us was Brent shouting out a scream so loud we thought he was getting way too into the movie, and then we realized blood dripping from his arm and a little from Espeon's claw.

"She didn't mean it Brent. It was an accid-"

"On second thought Zack, I think she is alright for you. And since Espeon was born infertile, I guess you guys could adopt if ya want. Hey, hit me up if ya plan on looking for a godfather!"

I guess he seemed alright about me being in a relationship with a Pokemon, but it wasn't Espeon I was with. I tried again to tell him that I wasn't in a relationship with Espeon and tell him about Latias another day to move on… but he continued to interrupt me with 'Me and Espeon' future plans…

"Where the heck would you two even live? Still within the Unova region my dude? Here's a top you might wanna use to 'Get the girls!' Remember that plan we used at that fixed volleyball game in Kalos?" it was a plan Brent cam eup with, a guide to pick up girls at a beach or other place. It involved a lot of yelling and demanding while at the same time looking like an idiot. We were invited on a three on three volleyball match with another team who were obviously pros. "But there is an update to the plan; when marry said girl, buy them a pretty dang house. So go and buy Espeon a beachside house and treat her right. Cause movin' into ya moms house, livin' in ya bedroom ain't gonna please anyone."

I tried once more to tell him that I wasn't with Espeon, but of course he interrupted me again.

"Alright, gotta go dude, talk to ya when I get free time. Later!" He said before shutting down the computer leaving a blank screen in front of me.

"Well, I guess that's everyone, now I gotta find Latias and tell her the news. I'll come back to Brent another time before things escalate to the point of madness. Knowing him and his 'Get the Girl' plan he thought up, who knows what he'll do." I thought still staring at my monitor while sat in my chair. With my sister, mom, Lisa, and Brent all done, my next stop was at the laboratory garden where I would find Latias. The next step would begin, something I was nervous about revealing to our friends.

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – Laboratory Gardens**

Resting by the tree in the gardens was Latias lifted her head up at the sight of me enter the garden through the lab. Now that everyone was asked if they supported me in a relationship with any species was done and over with, now was the time to come clean to everyone and tell them all of my relationship with Latias.

"You've been busy Zack." She smiled before chucking a few berries into her mouth. "Training with Espeon to use Psychic and Protect. Dewott and Totodile to learn Razor Shell and Water Pulse. Not only that, but I also heard you have been talking to the others about how they would feel if you were ever in a relationship. So does that mean, you're up for this? Being with me I mean, because I wasn't sure if you really were. I didn't want to force you…"

"At first I wasn't. But as I got to know you for who you are, I looked passed what you are and saw something else; someone I could talk to, laugh with, and have fun together." I said looking into Latias' eyes, refusing to look away.

"You said when we were at the hill when you first kissed me to uh take all the time I needed to think about this. I did, and then I spoke to our friends, and just my sister about how they would react seeing me in a relationship with either a human or a Pokemon. After hearing what everyone had to say, taking some time to think about this, I am up for it, if you are." We held each other's paw/claw for the first time in the laboratory gardens without worrying about if anyone else saw us. Also for the first time, Latias moved her head towards mine and nuzzled me.

"I am." She whispered into my ear. Everything felt peaceful in this moment, I felt happy. The last time I ever felt this way was when Sakura, Isaac and our Pokemon defeated Annihilation together and we came back as heroes of Unova. But not everything was at peace. Now that we were in a relationship for real this time, we had to talk with the others. Luckily for us, all of my Pokemon were here in the gardens.

It had taken us some time to gather them together at the tree so we could announce to them the news of us starting a relationship. But it wasn't just our Pokemon, Sakura and Isaac were also at the gardens to see their own Pokemon, so might as well tell them all at the same time instead o in groups. Having them sit down staring at us, mostly me with six out of seven made me a lot more nervous than I was when I first spoke to them about how they would feel about me ever in a relationship. The one who wasn't looking at me was Gardevoir with her eyes glued to her dictionary. After a quick nudge from Dewott, that six out of seven now officially became all of them staring right at me.

"Um, I have called you all here to uh, to tell you about something." I said, not sure where to start in this announcement. But then I thought that maybe I could bring the conversation I had with my friends over the past few weeks about me being in a relationship would be a good idea. "Over these past few weeks I have spoken to you all about how you would feel if I was ever in a relationship, what species I can love, if you would ever accept me. We have been through a lot of things over the years, uh…" I felt the nervousness creep into the bottom of my stomach. But when Latias resting on the ground next to me as I stood, placing her paw on my shoulder. I glanced over at her to see her smile, nodding for me to continue.

"The reason I asked was well, I am in a relationship with Latias." I said fast, and then silence quickly followed I wasn't even sure they heard me. Most of them stared at one another, raising an eyebrow, some with their mouths hung open.

"_Damnit! What have I done? I should've just kept quiet."_ I thought instantly regretting on telling them. _"I should've waited a little more! Told them one by one instead of all here and together!"_

They were all uncomfortably silent. I thought it would either be me or Latias to break the silence and further explain to them about us. Then it was Gardevoir who spoke up. "Do you mean you and Latias are a couple?" She asked, setting her dictionary down onto the grass.

I nodded in response, the words failing to escape my mouth for how nervous I was. Anxious at the next words I would hear from her or anyone of them. "This is all… unexpected. Is that the word I should use?" She asked herself before picking up the dictionary from the grass, opening it up and quickly flicking through the pages to search for a word.

Espeon's ears faltered, flopping to the side of her head, she sadly looked at me and asked. "Y-you're a couple?" Again, I nodded in response still anxious at their responses.

Espeon stood in front of me, the first of all of my Pokemon wanting to speak to me individually. She lifted herself up to me using her forelegs to pull me into a quick hug. "Treat her right, Zackary… I, I'm happy for you. For the both of you. I'll uh, s-see you tomorrow…" She weakly smiled before walking back to the lab. Before she completely turned from me, I thought I saw something drip from her cheek. "Tears? W-was Espeon crying?" I wanted to go and check up on her. It was a rare sight to see Espeon crying let alone tear up. But Dewott got in my way to run after her, placing his paw on my shoulder.

"That uh, that sure was a surprise I never expected to hear today." He smiled. "But if it makes you happy being with her, who am I to judge. Besides, you two sure do make a pretty cute couple." After Dewott let go of my shoulder to let the others speak to me, I couldn't see Espeon anymore, she was gone.

Gardevoir knelt down to her knees and gave me a hug before showing me a word in her dictionary 'Surprised' and then the word 'Hurray'

"If you ever feel as though you are lost for words Zack, please come to me anytime and I'll do all I can if not more, for I have the power of the dictionary." (?) After that she stood back up and skipped back to the tree to read more from her dictionary.

Totodile and Bayleef spoke to me at the same time. "Look at it this way Zack," Totodile said looking over at Bayleef. "Me and Bayleef are different types, just like how you and Latias are different types; Water/Psychic and Dragon/Psychic. And that's perfectly fine with me."

"I think what Totodile is trying to say is that you two are different. You were born a human, but now that you are a Dewott. Latias is still a Pokemon, yet despite your differences we are fine with it." She smiled, nudging me playfully with the leaf attached at the top of her head. After they left, Golurk was next after walking from the tree.

Golurk didn't crouch down or lower itself low enough for us to reach eye level or even close to it, our difference in height wouldn't have changed that. "Mr. Zack, I had thought something like this was likely to happen; you talking about relationships out of the blue, I figured you had found someone special. And you have." Golurk finally crouched down to one knee and shook my paw with its large hand. "I shall remember this Mr. Zack. A story worth telling the lives of those I shall meet in the future. A story of courage." I nodded my head and watched Golurk leave.

Sakura was up next after Golurk walked back to tree. "Zack I…" She knelt down, in silence for a moment. "Remember what I said to you when you spoke to me about how I would react if you were ever in a relationship? Well, I took some time to think about it, and I'm happy for you." She smiled. "I got to go Zack, talk to you tomorrow, yeah?" She got up, waiting for Isaac near the tree while he too knelt down in front of me.

"I gotta say, this was a strange turn of event today; You in a relationship with Latias. Huh, never saw it coming to be honest." Isaac said shaking his head. He turned and we watched Latias speak with the others. "She seems happy. My guess it was something she wanted for a while now."

"Y-yeah." I finally said after the long silence. Isaac smiled and stood up walking over to Sakura waiting by the tree still.

"That went well." Latias said, placing her paw on my shoulder. "I thought for a moment something bad might've happened."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I don't know, maybe an argument. But thankfully that never happened. Now all of them know about us and we don't have to hide anymore."

"Not everyone. There's still my mom and sister I have to tell, but that can wait until tomorrow. Then there are my friends; Lisa and Brent I have to talk to whenever they are free."

"I understand." She smiled, lowering herself down to pull me in to hug me, I hugged back. "Tomorrow if you'd like, I would like to be there with you when you do tell them. Do you want me to come?"

I nodded. "Of course I would. I just hope the worst doesn't happen, when I tell them about us."

"Don't worry Zack. Nothing bad will happen tomorrow, I promise you." She sounded so sure of herself. Hearing those words, I almost believed her and everything tomorrow would be alright worry free.

Tomorrow we would tell them, and then if everything went well like Latias said it would, tomorrow would be a good day. No more hiding and everything would be normal again, only that I would have a girlfriend this time, or mate in my view.

* * *

****

**The Next Day**

That day I had promised not only to myself but to Latias that I would tell my mom first thing in the morning about us. With the leave with Sakura and Isaac in search for the herb almost near, I had to tell her, and yet I was afraid how she would take it.

Standing up from my bed, from my bed I looked out the window to see it was very cloudy, probably about to rain soon. _"I like it when rains. I hope she understands, and then I can probably enjoy the rain better…"_ I thought staring at the clouds for a good while, anxious about moving towards the door and walk downstairs to talk with her.

I didn't want to be alone when I told her about us; I wanted Latias to be with me so we could explain it to her together. On that day I had the intention to go down stairs and immediately head towards the laboratory and bring Latias along to begin the talk with her.

But Just as soon as I started for the door, downstairs I could hear a knock from the front door. It opened shortly after. No greetings, or voices, only silence. When I opened the door of my room, I heard the sound of something heavy drop followed by the sound of something being dragged across the floor. Quickly, I walked downstairs to investigate while calling out to my mom. The front door was open, but no one was out there, my mom was still inside the house, inside the kitchen. Her entire body was levitating up against the wall beside the back yard door. And there levitating beside her was someone I hadn't expected to see again; Shiny Latias.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

Zack originally spoke to all of his friends and family in this chapter instead of leaving it for another chapter or two. Zack's mom Ayaka didn't like the idea of him and Latias in a relationship and they had an argument forcing Zack to sleep elsewhere until Ayaka had cooled down. This plan in the end was dropped.


	13. Chapter 13 Enemies

Chapter 13 - Enemies

* * *

**Nuvema Town – My Home – Kitchen**

There was a knock at my front door while I was upstairs preparing to go down, head to the laboratory and bring Latias back home so we could have the conversation with my mom Ayaka about me and Latias becoming a couple. Then after she opened the door, I heard no voices, only a something breaking, so I quickly opened my bedroom door and ran downstairs to find no one there. But then I looked back inside the house towards the kitchen, that was where I found my mom, and someone.

"Hello Zack, it has been quite some time since the last we saw one another!" It was Shiny Latias' voice. I thought I had imagined it. My head playing tricks on me that ever since that day, the last day I was human was that day I heard Shiny Latias speak for the first time, and seeing that toothy grin as she injected me with the Doom serum. I turned my head and froze at what I saw.

Levitating by the garden door was Shiny Latias grinning at me while holding up my mom up against the wall with her psychic. "I see that the injection worked on you indeed. It turned you into a Pokemon, a Dewott with white fur with a black skirt like thing around your waist, black paws and ears. Oh! And let's not forget your black sclera and red eyes, a beautiful sight if it weren't YOU." She said, taking another glance over at my mom, with her Psychic, she used it to hurt my mom. I grabbed my scalchop and used Razor shell to attack Shiny Latias, but before I could move an inch towards her, a ball of fire from the open window of the kitchen hit the floor between us.

A Pokemon was there trying to use its wings to open the window, but it wouldn't budge. From where I was, I could see that the Pokemon outside was a Pidgeot, but it was a red one. "Long time no see, Zack Raines." The red Pidgeot chuckled after being let inside by Shiny Latias using her Psychic to forcefully open the window wide open. The Pidgeot was red all over apart from its beak which was yellow. But its eyes were like mine, black sclera and red pupils. "You may not remember me, but I defiantly remember you." The Pidgeot smiled landing on the kitchen counter next to Shiny Latias still holding my mom in place forcefully against the wall with her Psychic. The look of my mom's face, she was in pain. I had to do something, but what? Even if I moved, Shiny Latias could kill her at the first step I took. I was still in training, even if I did try and attack them I would most likely end up losing this battle. _"Psychic ain't gonna work well against Shiny Latias."_ I thought as I glanced up at Shiny Latias first, then at the Pidgeot. _"That fireball, did it come from that Pidgeot? But that's a fire type move, Pidgoet is a flying type."_

"You see, couple a years ago way back when I was with my old posse of what most of you may call misfits, I was in the middle ,then we had the unfortunate chance of your group showing up and ruining the entire operation. You and your friends destroyed our operation back in the Desert Resort!"

I remembered that, back when me and Sakura met Isaac in the Desert Resort just after I joined the Savior's we found out from Isaac that a group of hunters where in the area rounding up a family of Sandile's. We stopped them and brought the hunters to justice. Their leader was a man named Nathaniel. But it couldn't be him, "You're the leader of the hunters; you're Nathaniel."

"You catch on quick, boy. Ya see, back when you put be behind bars for what I assumed was a five year wait or so, my good old buddies back at Team Annihilation came along and gave me the choice of staying in there and rotting for a lengthy amount of time, or become what you see before your very eyes." He said using his wings to point at himself. "What you see before you is the very creation of Team Annihilation, I am the second out of eight official members of the new group we call; Team Doom."

"Team Doom?" I questioned. Then I realized something when I was back at the Savior's, the Doom project turned humans into Pokemon. Was this Project Doom connected with this Team Doom?

"Yes, that's the team I am part of now, no more hunters for me or some random group anymore. This freaky red Pidgeot that is my new look has some pretty cool features which still surprise me; immunity to intense fire, flight which still freakin' scares the living daylights outta me no matter how high or low I fly. And of course the neat feature outta all of this Doom stuff; are the moves." He said as flames engulfed his wing as he held it up in front of him. "Do you know any moves, kid? Cause if ya don't, then all you can do is watch while I burn your friends and family to a crisp."

"Like we are just gonna let you do that, bitch!" Behind me, I noticed Espeon appear from the front door as she stood beside me, putting up her guard carefully watching the two Pokemon preparing to strike should they attack. With Espeon with me, I didn't feel weak in this situation, with my training and Espeon's skill in battle combined, I was sure we could fight them off and save my mom before they could hurt her or worse.

"Ah, a talkin' Espeon, eh? But you girly ain't Doom, just a regular Pokemon in the way of Doom problems. Ya know, if I were still a hunter, you would fetch me a very good price. On second thought, I might just do that just to relive the olden days for nostalgia."

"Quiet!" Shiny Latias snapped at him. Turning towards us still grinning "You may be wandering Zack, why are we here inside your home? Well before we came here, me and the ex-hunter, all of us at Doom, we have something in common-"

"All of you are a bunch of idiotic fools who have nothing better to do?" Espeon interrupted her.

Shiny Latias ignored her and continued. "All of us have a connection with you, Zack Raines; all of us want to see you dead for what you have done to us in the past. For example; destroying Nathaniel's hunter business." She said pointing her paw at him. "And me; you killed my father, Juro and my family; Annihilation."

"But Juro isn't your father. Your real parents were murdered by Annihilation years ago-" I said before being interrupted.

"Juro IS my father!" She snapped, now glaring at us, mostly me. "I saw what you did, y-you pushed him off that ledge into those reanimated corpses my father created as his army, they tore him up… he was screaming in agony… I-I wanted to save him, b-but I couldn't…" she cried, turning her head away from us. "Annihilation was the closest thing I ever had that was like a real family to me…" She turned her head towards us opening her eyes glaring again. "And you destroyed all of that, you and your pathetic friends."

"Annihilation was evil." Espeon spoke up. "Annihilation kidnapped people from all over, young, old, whatever they caught to be created as some kind of zombie like thing to be used for their army. And it wasn't just people, it was Pokemon too. Using those things, they sent them out to different towns/cities and other settlements to kill and bring back more. And if you have forgotten what that moron Juro was creating in his lab, he was creating a machine so powerful that it would've killed everyone if Zack and his friends never stopped him. So tell me Shiny Latias, does kidnapping so many then killing innocent people young and old, Pokemon from all over to be recreated as a zombie solider in his army and creating a doomsday machine sound like something a good guy would do?"

Shiny Latias scoffed at her and turned her head back at my mom, touching the side of her face with her claw, enjoying herself every time my mom wince at her touch or whimpered in fear.

"He was building a better world for all of us." Shiny Latias said calmly, not glaring anymore when she turned back towards us. "He wanted to fight against the corruption of the world you and the Savior's are too stupid to see with your eyes. With Team Doom, Juro's dream will become a reality."Shiny Latias slowly smiled as purple flash of Psychic energy appeared surrounding mom's neck.

**Snap!**

Time seemed like it had slowed down, I couldn't move but stare shocked at what I had just seen. It had happened so quick I barely had time do anything. Shiny Latias released my mom from her Psychic grip letting her drop to the floor while she opened the back yard door levitating outside to escape. Nathaniel flew out the window as fast as he could; evading all of Espeon's Psychic attacks she used to either prevent his escape or perform a fatal attack against him.

Grabbing my scalchop and using Razor Shell, I screamed at the top of my lungs in so much anger I had never before done in my life. I felt tears drip down my cheek as I was ran outside searching for Shiny Latias wherever she might be. But Shiny Latias wasn't in the back yard anymore, she was above it. She was too far away for any of my moves to reach her, but I tried anyway. I threw my scalchop at her with Razor shell still active, it barely reached her.

"Get back here!" I yelled, running after Shiny Latias and Nathaniel through the hedges of the back yard as they flew together north of Nuvema town. Shiny Latias stopped and looked back with a wide grin and shouted loud enough so I could hear her.

"Find us, Zack Raines. Grow strong and kill us. We will be waiting for you." She laughed before quickly flying to catch up with Nathaniel before the two vanished above the trees.

"No! Stop!" I shouted still running as fast I could, but it was pointless, they were gone. It was only when I reached the exit of town when I had stopped running; I knelt down bursting out tears. Espeon who had run with me sat beside me and used her forelegs to hug me. I wanted to run after them some more to catch up with them, but they were long gone by now…

* * *

Returning back home, inside the kitchen on the floor was my mom not moving, not breathing. I felt for a pulse, she was dead. I felt again and waited wishing that I didn't feel for a pulse long enough and the next time I tried I would feel a pulse, she was just knocked out and soon I could hear her voice again… nothing. I didn't want it this to be true, she couldn't be dead, she couldn't… but she was.

I wanted to tell her about me and Latias, but I would never know what she would say or how she would react. I had hoped for a happier outcome, she would accept us and everything would feel normal again. Even though she wasn't my real mom, she adopted me, took me into her home after my real family were murdered, raising me as if I were her own child, I still loved her like she was my real mom. I never expected something like this to happen. All I wanted was a normal life. A normal family and away from doing missions with the Savior's and stopping groups like Annihilation.

To be continued...

**Trivia:**

Most of the eight members of Team Doom were supposed to appear within this chapter, but that idea was scrapped so they appear later to either trick Zack or talk to him without knowing who they are first.


	14. Chapter 14 As the Days Pass by

Chapter 14 – As the Days Pass by

* * *

****

**The First Day**

The police came and went asking me and Espeon questions about what had happened. A Shiny Latias had killed mom using Psychic to break her neck, a memory I hated reliving, the sound of her neck breaking, the sound of her body hitting the floor... it was terrible. The body was removed, the one responsible long gone while my sister Yuri and I were left alone to mourn the loss of our mom Ayaka.

Yuri and I stayed at a friend's house until the damage Shiny Latias had done to the back yard door was fixed, a day's work they told us. Yuri was in her friend's room while I remained outside sitting beside a tree alone with constant replays of that event in my mind.

I wanted to tell her about us, but I couldn't now, all because of Shiny Latias appearing out of the blue and turning my life upside down. I didn't want to stay here, I wanted to do something. I wanted to find Shiny Latias or call the Savior's about her return so they can try and find her, I didn't want to leave town, leave Yuri alone. I didn't know what to do.

Two hours after I arrived at Yuri's friends' house, Espeon had returned with Latias who had quickly rushed to the side of me. "Zack, I heard what happened. Shiny Latias was there, she attacked, are you okay?" She placed her paw on my shoulder while I just sat there in silence, searching for any injury I might have obtained during my confrontation with Shiny Latias, but there wasn't any, not physically.

"Zack I…" She said in almost like a whisper like tone. "I'm sorry for what my sister did. I-if it wasn't for me, if we never met your mother would still be alive… I'm sorry." She sniffed, shutting her eyes as the tears leaked from her eyes. I placed a paw on top of her head, holding her close.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, it wasn't your fault." I hugged her head. "I'm glad I met you, you've helped me so much throughout my life. You were my first friend when I needed one growing up. Shiny Latias was the one who did this, not you. You are in no way responsible for any of this." Latias wiped her tears and began to smile again. No matter what, Latias was never responsible for anything vile Shiny Latias did, and that was a lot of things, the things she had done to so many innocent people and Pokemon, she would never be responsible for any of that…

* * *

****

**The Fourth Day – Nuvema Town**

Three days ago the back yard door was fixed, damage which Shiny Latias did to the house now gone, we could go back to the house now, although it was only us two, the place seemed emptier now, quieter… "Hey kids, I brought food!" and then he arrived.

Henry Amano, a rather skinny man with short dark messy hair and stubble and the kind of man who rarely ever took care of his appearance; the father of Yuri and ex husband of my mom Ayaka, and of course my adoptive father who rarely ever shows up. Out of three hundred and sixty five days, he only shows up three of those days with the same excuse; Pizza, small talk, leaves, and returns again the next year. I wasn't sure why mom ever did let him come back; I had thought they didn't like each other anymore after hearing all of the arguments when I was still a kid. Maybe he came back to see me and Yuri. But I didn't understood where he disappeared off to when he was finished with us. I did know he has a job somewhere north of Unova, not sure where though; only that it was some office job or salesman from what I picked up during their argument.

At the kitchen table, Henry had brought several boxes of pizza, way too much for the three of us to eat completely. After everything that happened with mom being killed, Yuri didn't feel that all comfortable eating pizza, especially eating it near to where Ayaka was killed, or being with Henry, treating him like a total stranger, well actually, myself included treated him like such.

"So uh, I heard about what happened to your mom… s-she was a good woman, and I-"Was all Henry said before Yuri stood up, crying out of the room and up the stairs shutting her bedroom door. Henry sat there for a while before standing from the table, walked out of the kitchen and stood at the stairs for a moment, and then… he opened the front door and walked out without looking back.

I sighed, shaking my head at his actions._ "Some father he is… can't even talk to his children when they need him most."_ I wasn't sure why he did that, why did he walk out like that? _"Maybe it would be best for everyone if he just left. He's never here much. Why does he keep coming back when he just ups and leaves the next day or two without even trying to talk with us?" _I didn't understand him. What was going through that mind of his if he thinks this is okay? HE should be talking to us, comforting us now that mom had died, not walking away and giving us pizza.

After he left, I walked upstairs to check on Yuri still in her room on her bed, crying less than she did when leaving the kitchen. I asked if she was alright, she wished mom was still here, instead of Henry. She said she doesn't even remember him much, an early memory of him ever playing with her, telling her a bedtime story, or going with her on her first day of school. She than asked to be left alone, so I did as she asked and left her, but promising to come back to check up on her later that night.

Back in the kitchen, I sat at the table and opened the pizza box, taking a single slice of pizza and eating it. _"Might as well, haven't had anything to eat since this morning… damn Henry!" _Then after I ate one slice, I moved on to another, then another still feeling hungry like I hadn't eaten anything before. Not sure why I was eating pizza nonstop, I guess I didn't care, I guess I was just bored, maybe both. I had a lot on my mind; Mom's death, Shiny Latias out there somewhere within the Unova region, and Henry being a total dick to us. I wanted mom back, Shiny Latias in front of her so I could take care of her myself, and Henry to notice us, showed that he actually cared…

"Hi Zack. Eating pizza are we?" Latias asked as she levitated into the kitchen towards the table, picking up a pizza box taking a slice of her own. "How many have you eaten so far?"

"Seventeen…" I said with a shrug, preparing to eat the eighteenth. After all of those pizza slices I have eaten despite my smaller size, I didn't feel full at all, or close to being full.

"You know Zack; if you keep eating like that you'll end up fat." She laughed, poking my stomach with one of her claws. "And I won't be able to pick you up anymore! Is something up?"

"Henry showed up today..."

"Henry?" She asked. "Oh yeah, I remember him. What happened?"

"Showed up out the blue, gave us pizza, and just left after Yuri left the room crying."

"Why doesn't Henry talk to you guys?" She asked. "I thought he was family?" I thought so too. Why did Henry do this?

Maybe tomorrow I could try and talk with Henry, stop him before he walks away again and finally get him to listen to what I have to say to him. I wanted him to understand that we needed him; Yuri needs him after losing a mother. I was willing to give him a chance.

* * *

****

**The Fifth Day – Nuvema Town – Town Exit**

At the town edge walked a man leaving the town every year wearing the same brown suit, dark pants, and not so polished shoes while carrying a briefcase. That man was Henry Amano, who had only stayed in the town for only one day leaving without saying anything to his children, especially since their mom had died three days prior.

"Stop!" I ordered as I emerged from the bushes to catch up with him before he left town. I was lucky I heard him leave that morning otherwise he would be long gone by the time I woke up, leaving us alone again.

Henry turned around completely surprised at me standing there. "Zack, what are you-?"

"How could you!?" I interrupted him, shouting angrier than I had ever been before. "Why are you leaving us? Did you forget mom just died and you're just leaving like that?" I hated how he was doing this. But I had to try. I wanted him to come back home to be there for Yuri, for me. He was still our dad, I had to make him see reason, somehow.

"Z-Zack i…"

"We need you back home, Yuri needs you. You haven't said much of a word to her. You have never been there for us when we needed you!"

"Zack, you don't understand, I have to leave." He sighed before turning in the direction of the town exit.

I ran in front of him, stopping him between me and the town exit. "If you still you want to leave, then go and never dare come back. Yuri and I, we see you as nothing but a stranger in the house, not as a dad you claim to be. Yuri is leaving to study art at a college or an academy soon; it is something she had wanted to do for a long time now. She needs someone to help her through all of this." My voice became calmer as I begged. This was my last thing I could say to get Henry to stay and be a parent for us. "Please, she needs you right now."

Henry stared at me for long time. His expression never shifting from his usual bored stone face he always pulls when doing nothing, or if he is listening to someone. I figured this was how it would happen; Henry walking away from me, down into route 01 to who knows where, that this would be the last time he and I would stand face to face together.

"I suppose your mother didn't tell you the full story, did she?" He said, turning away and closing his eyes. _"Full story?"_ I thought. _"What does he mean by that?"_

"I take it you didn't know then. *Sighs* Fine…"

"When you were just adopted, I used to work at an office building in Black City, just your usual admin work, nothing serious, worked there for years. It was also the place I met Ayaka… She was a beautiful woman; I wish I saw her more often…

But what you didn't know, your mother and I were strapped for cash, got ourselves into small debt less under a hundred PDs (Pokedollars). So as I was being stupid, I ran around like a headless Pidgey through the city for a way to get rid of the debt; first trying to get a promotion from my boss after working as hard as I could for weeks, but nothing changed. I then moved on to something else, something I wasn't used to, and something risky; gambling.

I wasn't good at it, proved that on my first ever game at poker, thinking I could win big at the table just like that, went in all smiling and full of confidence that I could win more than enough money I could ever need. Quit my job and settle down with a new job elsewhere. But of course that obviously never happened, lost it all. I went to a bar, thought I could drown out my sorrows for a couple of hours, the thought of losing the house and everything we owned at least.

But then I met some man wearing a tux, oiled combed hair and smoking the vilest smelling cigar I had ever smelt before. He claimed to have the solution to all of my problems; _'a simple job would do it, enough cash for you and your family. A driver for a delivery' _He said. I was hesitant at first, but the sound of that amount of cash he was offering for a simple delivery, I agreed to it. Finished it within a few hours, got my money… then I got the visit." He sighed again, sitting on a railing to the side of the exit of town."

"As soon as I realized who these people where, I didn't know what to do, who to talk to. He told me he was with the mafia. Did a lot of jobs for them for years nonstop almost, I finally got out five years before."

"The mafia?" I asked, surprised that he was ever associated with them. Hearing the stories of them, I'm surprised they let him go.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it too when I realized it. But to top it all off, working with them for years and then letting me go, I thought they would just let me go without them doing anything, but they did do something; took all of our money, and left us in debt again, and I have been working years through different jobs all over to get us out."

"Is that why mom and you got a divorce? Was it because of the Mafia?" I asked. Henry shook his head.

"Well, it is true, but fifty percent of it is. The other was we didn't love each other anymore, our spark was gone. I promised to help out with giving money to help pay off the debt I got us into… and all I do is show up with boxes of pizza and leaving, not knowing what to talk about… I don't even know to be a dad, never was good at this parenting stuff."

I never knew we were in debt. After every mission I had completed with the Savior's I always wanted to give some of my money to give my mom to help her out, but she always declined without telling me the reason other than _'You earned it Zack, use it for your Pokemon and new clothes and stuff.' _I never asked why, always sneaked into her purse later and inserted a little more cash, but not too much so that it would seem suspicious or anything.

We were in debt by five thousand. I had more than enough for that and offered to help pay it, so Henry wouldn't be out there to earn enough money to pay off the debt. "So you're coming back? To town I mean?" I asked as he stood up from the railing.

"I am. But I can't accept this money. It's too much. You earned it all. I got us into this mess in the first place."

"No, I'm glad to help out. It was one other reason I joined the Savior's in the first place; I wanted to support mom and Yuri. You've done enough."

"I'm sorry Zack, I wish I was didn't get myself caught up in all of this. But I hope I can have another chance at being a real dad for you two."

Henry returned home with me. And the very first thing he ever did was walk up to her and hugged Yuri. He apologized to her for not being there for her when she needed him, and that he would be staying with her, in the town for good. All of us sat together in the living room and talked about a lot of things. About our first home we lived before coming here in Nuvema Town, but more about mom, things I never knew she did; she liked to cook, wanted to become a professional chef one day at a top restaurant or something, wanted to make a lot of delicious food for people, but that never happened, she was too scared to do it. But her time working at the bakery, she made delicious food for a lot of people, I guess in the end she already did make that happen, like she wanted to.

* * *

****

**The Eighth Day - Nuvema Town – Cliff Edge**

I had started to notice some strange things about me during the past few days, for example; whenever I thought back to when Shiny Latias killed mom by snapping her neck, hearing that sound and listening to Shiny Latias laugh as she ran off while I just stood there watching it happen, I felt angry, I could feel my blood boil. Sure that would seem normal if a loved one you knew were killed in a similar fashion. But what I or Espeon didn't notice was one thing; my eyes, the red pupils and irises was glowing a brighter red, I felt like my power both Psychic and water within me felt stronger the longer I was angry. But when I had stopped running after them at the edge of the town, sadness came back a lot stronger than anger, my eyes returned to normal.

The Doom serum not only turned me into a Pokemon, changing the fur color instead of a normal blue for a Dewott to a snow white, giving me black and red eyes, but it gave me something else, whatever this glowing eyes thing does, it can't be good, especially if Team Annihilation were involved. Shiny Latias didn't give me the Doom serum for nothing; she must've had a reason for doing so, but what?

"_Find us, Zack Raines. Grow strong and kill us. We will be waiting for you." _Those were the words she said to me before she flew off. 'Grow strong' 'Kill us.' "_Why does she want that?"_ I thought thinking back to that moment. At that moment, I would've liked to have used this peace and quiet setting to concentrate for me to enter the dark place, access my mind and rethink back to the moment when Shiny Latias was in the kitchen with Nathaniel. Maybe I could find some clue of some sort, it would be hard to see that moment again, but it had to be done if I wanted to find them.

"Hey look!" A voice from behind me, one I recognized, but not in a good way. The sound of four people about my age approached me from behind before surrounding me. "Well, well, if it isn't Zack!"

Three boys and one girl; Tommy, a twitchy kind of guy who would often started fights with anyone who looked at him, the kind of guy you wouldn't want to meet in a dark street.

Josh and Albert Stone were brothers, one short, and one tall and lanky; wearing really baggy clothing with rips and tears here and there. The siblings were inseparable, rarely seen without the other walking alongside the other, hanging out together and often ending up in detention at the same time. They never spoke all that much

Hayley Jones the leader of the group back in school all the way to high school. She like with all of her friends surrounding me were the bullies of the school back when I was a student. Picking on others, throwing things, graffiti, starting fights, the list goes on. I was surprised after all of the things they had done they never got expelled or anything, only detentions and a slap on the wrist to which they can just shrug it all off and move on.

"Jeez, so the rumors were true after all." Hayley chuckled, moving in closer towards me to examine my fur and form. _"Rumors?"_ I thought. _"How did these four find out I am a Pokemon? Was it My friends, did they tell them? Maybe mom's co-worker from the bakery, or perhaps one of Yuri's friends passing it on to others?"_

Then the one known as Tommy stepped forward. "Remember what you did to my hand? Cause I never forgot! You messed it up pretty badly!" Tommy spat, showing his so-called messed up hand up so I could see it clearly from where I was. No scars, nothing but a dirty hand. _"Oh yeah, the hand looked perfectly mess up(!)"_ When the same four approached me, Cleo and Rhys three years ago before the mission to travel in time began, they attacked us using sticks. I used one, fought back and hit him on the hand dropping his stick before swearing he would get me for this. Didn't think he'd remember that, or care.

"Oh shut up!" One of the brothers shouted. I couldn't tell which one because they have a near similar sounding voice, the only difference is one sounds slightly gravellier than the other. "All you have done for these past years is talk about your stupid problems; _'my mommy never loved me' 'I'm on welfare and I want a job' 'my hand hurts because I got hit with a stick!' _I am so sick of hearing you talk, Tommy!"

"You said it!" The brother agreed. The three argued with one another with no signs of stopping, and then if it hadn't been for Hayley to shut them up, it was probably likely they would still be arguing for hours.

Getting up from the grass and trying to walk away, Hayley stood in my blocking my path, the other three stepped in closer. "Let me pass." I ordered with a hint of anger slowly rising, but they just laughed unfazed by me. If they knew I was trained in both Psychic and water type moves, maybe they would finally let me pass, no need for violence.

"I hear he is going out with that fat Latias now. Creep always did like hangin' out with that oversized idiot!" Tommy scoffed, crossing his arms with a large smug grin on his face. Then I noticed something on his arm. From where I was, I could still see the scar Latias gave to him when she bit him on the arm when he tried to attack her with a stick when the same four attacked me years ago. It was the day me and Latias became friends, and yet these four were still the same as they were before.

I tried to ignore them, walk away from them and return back home. They blocked my way, preventing me from leaving, and they were slowly approaching me. And then by instinct, I quickly moved my paw over my scalchop preparing myself to attack… _"No!"_ I stopped myself realizing I almost activated Razor shell to attack them. In my mind I had a strange thought on how to get out of this scenario by using all of my moves I could to hurt them; razor shell their legs, pushing them into trees or large rock formations or whatever my Psychic pushed them into, they would hurt pretty bad if I did any of that.

The old me would talk my way out of scenarios like this, not attack. I had to calm myself down; I was still a member of the Savior's, I knew better not to start a fight with them or anyone.

"Eww, what kind of messed up freak of nature would that create? Maybe something so ugly and so nasty looking… ugh, I don't wanna think about it!" Hayley shuddered as she kicked a little dirt from the ground almost hitting me.

"I also heard his mommy died. Had her fucking neck snapped like a little twig." One of the four laughed. I felt my anger rise, but it was the same feeling when my eyes started to glow. A sudden thought in my mind was telling me to attack nonstop. I knew how because of my moves, it would be easy. But as much as I wanted them to leave me alone and let me walk back home, I was still a Savior member, we are sworn an oath; not to harm civilians no matter what. I did however have something I could use without so much as injuring them; Psychic to push them out of the way. Concentrating on the two who were in my way wanting the two to be pushed to the side, I had formed my Psychic energy at my paw ready to use Psychic and be on my way.

"She worked at the bakery right? Man, I would've loved to have some of that pie if ya know what I mean." one of them laughed. "Too bad she was killed, probably because of you." My concentration broke at those words. Staring at the one who had said it with no emotion other than anger present on my face, the tallest of the four only smirked. Before I could respond, Haley entered the conversation.

"Probably still be alive now if you never became a Savior, like a magnet attracting all sorts of trouble here. Why don't you just leave already, take that fat bitch with you or we'll go after her." The four began to laugh together while I stood and growled.

"What the heck? The heck is happening to his eyes?!" Tommy shouted to the others still laughing, ignoring his question.

The thought to attack them all lingered still in my mind, how to unleash my rage on them. Controlling my breathing, concentrating, but still feeling angry, I was calmer, I used Psychic.

* * *

****

**Zackary's Home – Espeon's POV**

Walking to Zack's home late at night was an unpleasant one indeed. The sky was dark full of rain clouds which would pour down on me any second now if I didn't hurry. Not that I did have to take my time on the streets because of a recent event earlier today, a purely shocking scene of violence and blood here and there. People around town say it was a fight between gangs, a prank gone wrong says others, or a few around where Zackary lives say it was the same Pokemon that killed Ayaka. Or maybe randomly, it was Santa showing up in the summer time to spin dance to earn some respect to the teenagers, but for some reason, they dissed him and everything went south, because reasons.

Entering the house by using my Psychic to open the front door, usually I just went straight upstairs to Zackary's room rather than anywhere else within the house. I walked straight to the kitchen, and stood in front of the wall where Ayaka was killed. I glanced back to where I was standing when Shiny Latias had used Psychic to snap her neck. The distance between us, I had more than enough time to block that attack, so why didn't I do anything but stare at them and wait for them to kill her? I shook the thought out of my head and left the kitchen, made my way upstairs to find Zackary sitting on his bed with his eyes shut. He was most likely in the dark place by now. Jumping up on the opposite side of the bed, Zackary didn't open his eyes, but he was defiantly out of the dark place, evidently because of his paws moving freely.

"Hi Zackary, I didn't want to intrude on your concentration. I'll come back later if you want." I said preparing myself to jump off the bed and… probably sleep on the couch downstairs, not wanting to get caught in the upcoming rain.

"I was finished…" There was something on his mind, obviously since the death of his mom, but there was something else. Before I could even ask him, he spoke. "E-Espeon I-I… s-something happened."

"What do you mean?"

"Earlier I… I was by myself near the tree on top of the hill at the edge of town." I nodded my head, knowing exactly where it is. "Four people I know from school approached me; they knew who I was… they said… things about Latias that I didn't like, and they spoke about my mom. With each word that came out of their mouths, the more I could feel my anger rising, a thought in my mind wanting to hurt them, perhaps kill them… I wanted to walk away from them, but then I snapped…"

"What happened?" I got closer to him and he opened his, I gasped at what I saw, his eyes were glowing bright red.

"T-this happened…" He said covering his eyes with his paw. "This isn't the first time my eyes were like this. When mom was killed by Shiny Latias, the same thoughts kept telling me to kill her, angry thoughts; it was like I was becoming powerful the longer those thoughts persisted. Is that normal for Psychic types?" He asked, I held his paw with my own.

"No!" I shook my head. Zackary's eyes returned back to normal. "Psychic is all about concentration and focus. Emotions don't play any part in that. Whatever happened to you, it must have something to do with what that Shiny Bitch injected you with." In all of my years training with Psychic type moves, speaking others of my type, never had I heard anything like that before.

"I didn't want to hurt them, but I did. Three of them are in comas, one can never walk again… learning moves was a mistake if I can't even control myself... I couldn't even protect mom…"

"Zack, look at me." I placed both of my paws on his shoulder. "You couldn't have known that. Whatever Shiny Latias did to you, this Doom serum, if we train I'm sure we can help you control this. What Shiny Latias did was no doubt pure evil. I don't know why she gave you the Doom serum, but she must have her reasons, sinister reasons nonetheless. But once that anger thingy you have is controlled with, no one else will be hurt because of it, and your powers will become stronger." I let go of his shoulders and placed my maw on top of his paw. "If we do this together, no one else will be hurt. I want to help you find the bitch, whenever you are ready to leave, I'll be by your side."

Zackary smiled, placing his other paw on top of mine. "Thank you Espeon. I just hope this anger thing doesn't cause anymore problems in the future. I don't want to hurt anyone else."

I wrapped my forelegs around Zackary and pulled him into a nice long hug. "Once we have this anger management thing sorted out, it will all be a thing of the past." I smiled, pulling myself away from Zack to see him still smiling. After that, his mood began to change a little, he was happier, had a lot on his mind, but tired. And what better way to restore energy after a long day is sleep… or coffee for all you late nighters.

The four Zackary beat up did eventually wake up from their coma, several months for the two of them, one woke up a year after, and the girl who was the only one out of the four who was not in a coma and the one that can never walk again for some reason never revealed to anyone who it was that did this and neither did the three boys. They call claimed they couldn't remember anything of that day on the hill or why they were there. Either it was fear that withheld the truth, or maybe they really did forget what happened, who's to say. Zackary told me about them, about how they caused a lot of trouble for a lot or people way back when Zackary was still in school. Before the attack, they were just thugs. Vandalizing this and that, and mugging, I guess after everything they did they got what was coming to them.

I never saw their injuries, only heard about them through the newspaper (yes, I read the newspaper.) it mentioned the four had broken bones in multiple places all over the body, several teeth knocked out of them, and one section about the girl wrote about how her hair was the worst thing about it. (yeah, no joke. The newspaper actually wrote that her messed up hair was the worst. What?)

I was afraid of that, afraid of his hidden power activated by anger. What was it? Why does Zackary have it? The Doom Serum no doubt is the reason for it; the Shiny Bitch was the cause of all of this. But why did she inject him with that? Did she know it could do something like that? She wanted him to find her, and kill them. But why though? Killing Zackary's mom right in front of her like that would surely get him to go hunting for her, but killing? Zackary has never killed anyone before. What would he do when we find her? Would he really do it?

I slept at the foot of his bed, while listening to the sounds of the rain splatter against the window before embracing into a dreamless sleep, third night in a row, unknowing that Zackary was still awake, secretly preparing for tomorrow… our last day in Nuvema Town.

* * *

****

**The Tenth Day – Nuvema Town**

Early that morning without waking anyone up, I walked downstairs grabbing whatever I could to prepare myself for what I was doing. I wrote a note and left it for Yuri. I wanted to tell her where I was going, heck I wanted to tell everyone. But they would just try to stop me from leaving, that it would suicidal. I had to leave; I had to find Shiny Latias, for revenge, and to uncover the real reason why she turned me into a Pokemon, what Doom is. I didn't know what I was getting myself into; I just assumed this whole thing would take me a few months until I eventually find Shiny Latias and Nathaniel, and maybe their other members of Team Doom. But I would be wrong. Sure going in alone was dangerous, but after seeing mom killed right in front of me, I didn't want anyone else to die.

Walking through the town streets, the same direction I took when I first left to join the Savior's. When I reached the laboratory, I stopped, staring at the entrance and remembering when I first entered the lab doors, when I first obtained Oshawott. "The others would be safe. Once Shiny Latias and Team Doom are defeated, then we can be truly safe." I thought before I walked away from the lab, walking down a street I used to walk in the direction to where the town exit was located further up. Before I reached halfway, a building caught the corner my eyes; the bakery, the same one my mom used to work. She would've been working today, if it hadn't been for Shiny Latias…

Walking up the hill of the town exit, I stopped to see Latias, Espeon, Sakura, and Isaac standing there. _"Why are they here? D-did they know I was leaving?"_ I thought, surprised at their appearance right outside the town exit.

"See, I told you guys he would be here." Espeon said as she nudged Isaac's leg. "And you said he wouldn't be."

"Guys, w-what are you doing here?" I asked stepping closer to them.

"Espeon told us last night what you were planning on doing. And after everything that has happened, we knew there was no way we could talk you out of this." Sakura said, adjusting her backpack. "So we are going with you, whether or not you want us to."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "What about that plan Isaac set up to go around Unova in search of the herb?"

"It's just an herb." Isaac shrugged. "And besides, after all we have been through, what kind of friend would I be if I just let you go out alone facing a group of new bad guys? I know I wanted to search for the herb, so instead, I'll put that plan on the shelf until Shiny Latias pays for what she did." Isaac smiled.

"It'll be dangerous." I said, but no matter what I told them, they always reminded me of our last time we were together like this, refusing to give up on coming with me.

"We've handled a lot of tough obstacles over the years Zackary. Together with our technique and skills we have trained and mastered over the years, as a team, we can defeat this Team Doom and Shiny Latias. But alone Zackary, it'll be a lot harder for you, especially since you are still a starter on being a Pokemon."

Latias levitate down in front of me, "Zack, I want to go to. Shiny Latias is my sister, she's my only living relative left alive that I know of. I want to try and talk to her. I know that this sounds crazy, but I believe deep down if I try we can avoid anymore fighting. I can make her see reason." Make Shiny Latias see reason, avoid fighting from her. It did sound crazy, and I kind of believed it also.

"Okay Latias, you can come. All of you can. I'm sorry, I was afraid since mom was killed by Shiny Latias; I feared something bad would happen to you guys as well if you came along. But you are right; I can't do this alone, not with my skills."

"Me and Latias will help you with that." Espeon smiled as she walked up to us. "And when it finally comes to facing Shiny Latias and friends, they'll be no match for us. So Zackary, are you ready?" She asked.

I nodded, walking up to the others. "I am. Let's go."

Before we left town, I stood at this spot almost four years ago when I left to join the Savior's. I wanted to join the Savior's and become Rank 01, earn enough money t start myself a family later in the years. But then unknowingly, I was caught up with Team Annihilation. With the help from Sakura, Isaac, and our Pokemon we took them down. Now years later here we were together again to take on a new enemy; Team Doom and Shiny Latias as their leader.

To be continued...

* * *

**Character Interactions 01/02 - Latias and Espeon**

Espeon and Latias are in the living room together talking about relationships.

"So Latias, what is it like having a boyfriend who is smaller than you?" She asked. Latias smiled and wrapped her arms around herself into a hug.

"It's great! I get to carry him whenever I want. If he were a Pokemon my size, oh boy, carrying him will be an impossible thing with my current strength."

"Does your height difference ever become _off _in a way? Like you wished he was slightly bigger, or you slightly smaller?"

Latias thought of this for a minute or two, but in the end she shook her head. "Nah, I like things how they are. No complaints. All I care is that me and Zack are happy with the way things are. When I first took that step to start something, I feared so much that he would reject me, because of what he was before the transformation. I wouldn't blame him for that, if he did reject me."

"We have a lot of things in common you know; same interests in TV shows, movies, and food. It is cool."

"Uh, Latias? Zackary doesn't like your TV shows 'Super Latias' do you remember that one? He hates it. The movies you think he likes are just movies based on your TV show, and he doesn't eat the same food you like to eat most of the time, only a few berries and that's it, and then back to pizza's. As for food, you only copy what he eats."

"Well… at least we have interesting conversations. Eh, so what that we don't have much in common. At least we like to talk to each for hours and know how to have fun."

"Do you ever talk to Zackary about that website we saw?" Espeon asked, to which Latias rolled her eyes at. It was when she and Latias where browsing the internet discovered the web history section, and discovered a video from a website I had uh… viewed in the past… an adult website.

"O-oh um, y-yeah I remember that. I thought we agreed not to talk about it anymore."

"Y-yeah I know, but it isn't something you easily forget seeing." Espeon said, lightly scratching her head, blushing a little. "I guess every teen does it at some point… does eighteen still count as an teen or as an adult in human years, or do they need to age up first?" She asked herself. "When do humans become adults? Also, when does Zackary become an adult if he is a Dewott now? Hmm… or maybe he is one already. This transformation stuff confuses my all powerful brain."

**Conversation Ends.**


	15. Chapter 15 Final Mission

Chapter 15 – Final Mission 

* * *

**Castelia City –The Savior's HQ**

It had been many hours, but we finally made it to Castelia City without any problems, without encounters from Team Doom. We had to inform The Savior's what had happened, with Shiny Latias, and Team Doom now making their appearance throughout the region.

Arriving in The Savior's building, I set up a room the others could stay while I went up to see Clark Stone, the leader of Unova's Savior branch. Taking the same elevator I used when I first joined up to his office. It brought back a lot of memories of that first day.

After being allowed inside, I sat at Clark's desk. Clark was an elderly man, a full head of short white hair, a beard, and wore the same kind of black suit and tie he always wore to work. I told him everything; about Shiny Latias returning after so many years, and meeting one of the new members of Team Doom; Nathaniel.

"And there was this red Pidgeot, he was like me. His name was Nathaniel, the same Nathaniel who once ran that hunting business. The same man we captured in the Desert Resort."

"I do recall that man and what he did, so many terrible things he did to the Pokemon he captured." Clark said picking up a large folder containing the files of Nathaniel and his recent team. It contained everything the man did over the years of a hunter, lists of every Pokemon he collected, killed, who he traded with, and who his partners with. "That man escaped prison almost five years ago, just after you captured him and we sent him off to jail. But for his friends who assisted him during this time as a hunter, they are still locked up."

None of the documents or files within that folder ever mentioned Team Doom or of Shiny Latias, it only mentioned his short time during Team Annihilation, his life during his time there, how he did on missions, his tactics, but nothing involving being a part of a secret group.

"Clark, I… I want to go and find her, I… a-after everything Shiny Latias did to me, I want to know why." I remembered the Doom serum she injected me with, Nathaniel as a member of Team Doom, I wanted to find out more about it. "The Doom serum, why did Shiny Latias do this to me, I have to find out."

"Hm, a personal thing. Shiny Latias did kill your mother."

"Before you turned into a Pokemon, Zack. I asked of you to come and see me to discuss something." He said, opening his desk draw to reveal a document I recognized because of a video call from Lisa; it was document with the words 'Congratulations Rank 01' it was for me, I had finally reached Rank 01. "After your transformation, I didn't want to overwhelm you with this. I wanted to wait a while before I told you about this. Then your mother was killed and, that pushed my plan to tell you again about your rank up." He handed me the document. I stared at it.

I thought I would've been happier about it. For a long time now I had always wanted to be Rank 01, I trained for it, went out to many missions one after the other to reach that rank wanting to raise enough money to help out my family and start one of my own or something. Thinking back to Latias wanting to see the world, sure I would have the opportunity to see it because a Rank 01 could go anywhere they wanted mission wise, but I would still be doing missions, and I wanted to avoid all of that.

"But being as though you are a Rank 01, you are free to choose whatever mission in any region. I know this is a personal matter because of your mother, but I will allow you go after them."

"Thank you sir…" I said setting down the paper. What came next were words I never thought I would say as soon as I had reached Rank 01, "After I finish finding and putting a stop to Team Doom and Shiny Latias, I want this to be my last mission with the Savior's."

"You're retiring?" He asked. "But why?"

I thought about Latias, I hadn't told Clark yet about her. "After I turned into a Pokemon, well not immediately after, but I met someone, someone I didn't know I could love. She wants to travel the world with me, and I want to travel with her without missions holding us back, risking our lives every day. I believe I have served my time here."

Clark slowly nodded. "I understand, family is important after all." Clark stood up and faced the window. "I'm a family man myself. I had a wife, a son. I also have sister, a niece who you have already met; Reiko." Clark had talked about them before, His wife died a year before I joined, it was a sickness that took her. She never worked at the Savior's, worked at a sowing store of some kind, never did go into much detail of what kind of woman she was except she was beautiful and sweet. His sister lives in Hoenn with her husband, again like Clark's wife never did go into too much detail of what kind of woman she was, other than that she was fussy and collected books and comics. But he never mentioned his son once. I never knew he had a son. "I was worried about them when I first started up this organization. I feared everyday would be my last, and each day I kept asking myself nothing would happen. But when my wife died, I could've been there for her, but I wasn't. When Reiko wanted to join, I refused to let her. I didn't want her mixed up in all of this, but stubborn as she is, she was adamant for me to let her join, she wanted to help with by being a navigator, help set locations for agents to use on missions, create maps to use in missions. so in the end I let her"

Clark walked away from the window and faced me. "Zack, you are one of the best members of Savior I have ever had, and I am sorry to see you go. During your final mission to find Team Doom and its leader, the Savior's will support you."

"Thank you sir. It was honor working here at the Savior's." I said before standing up from the chair. Clark smiled and watched while I left, glancing over at a picture frame turned faced down.

That was my last time I ever saw the office in that state, a cleaner condition, glass windows not broken covering the floor by the broken desk. This would be the last day I would see the Savior's building in this clean and unbroken state.

Outside Clark's office stood four people I had gotten to know during my time as a Savior member all of these years; Claire, a young woman in her mid twenties working as a councillor to help Savior members struggling on either the field or back at HQ. She loves poetry and is often seen hanging out with Billy from time to time. Then there was Billy, a young man in his mid twenties, a medic who helps with agents on the field and helps give them advice on how to cure wounds and ailments. I think he has a large collection of model trains I think I remember him saying to me once… or maybe it was one of his family members… I wish I had made an effort to give attention. Next up was Lee, a middle aged man born and raised in Unova. He is an expert on Pokemon moves and knows all kinds of different moves wild Pokemon can use and often gives help to any agent who needs should they encounter a wild Pokémon out on the field. He has been given the nickname as 'A human Pokedex' he has really helped me in the past whenever I encountered a wild Pokemon or two giving me trouble.

And then there was Reiko, the niece of Clark Stone, working as a navigator of the Savior's, helping agents by directing them to their missions, locations of certain places and a lot more. She was nineteen, and I was almost nineteen years old myself… months ago when she turned nineteen, she found a boyfriend working across the street from the Savior's building working at a café. Ever since I found out about this, I was acting stupid and childish, I was distant towards her, because I thought… never mind. I wanted to talk to her properly without a screen between us and apologize to her, but I never did…

"Hey bud, so I hear ya goin' out for another mission?" Lee crossed his arms. "Don't worry 'bout it. Cause I'll do all I can to help you and your friends take down this Team Doom and Shiny Latias. Ya can count on me!"

"If you ever need medical assistance, day or night at anytime, just call on the Savior device you have and I'll do all I can to help you guys out." Billy smiled, handing me a few bottles of Potion, Ether, Antidote, and a Revive. "Take these, I hope they help."

"Thanks guys. I don't know how I can repay you for this."

"You don't have to." Claire smiled. "Just come back safe and sound, you hear?" I nodded, taking one last look at each of them. Claire, Billy, Lee, and Reiko before I entered the elevator, pressing the button to head on down to the waiting room were the others where.

* * *

****

**The Savior's HQ – Waiting Room**

I took elevator down to see my friends still waiting in the waiting room. Our team consisted of Sakura with her Pokemon; Minccino, Marill, and Salamence, Isaac with his Yamask, Growlithe, and Ampharos, and me; Espeon and Latias. My other Pokemon back at the lab would be safer back home. Dewott was expecting his second child and Bayleef was pregnant. Golurk and Gardevoir would help protect them if Doom decided to visit town.

"So what did they say? What's the plan Zack?" Isaac asked, sitting on one of the large chairs alongside Sakura and Espeon all sitting on the chairs next to each other while Latias levitated.

"Clark is giving us the go ahead for us to find Team Doom and Shiny Latias. He'll also assist us on our search; Reiko with navigation should we need it, Billy for medical advice, Lee with Pokedex entries, and Claire will help out for counselling."

"I'm glad we are not alone on this one." Sakura said, relieved at the amount of support we would get from the Savior's. "It sure is nice having others watch our backs for a change."

"Yeah, let's hope they actually help rather than just saying it to make us feel better." Espeon shook her head. "The guys over in Kanto during out time travel mission couldn't help us sine we were in different time zones and all. It was just down to me, Zackary, Lisa, and good ol' Bent (Brent) alone to deal with those anomaly freaks."

"I suggest the best place to start off on our search for any sigh of Team Doom or Shiny Latias is to check the old hunter's base in the Desert Resort." I said remembering that the hunter's base was still there after all of these years. Just a building left abandoned full of old furniture and bad memories. "When I accessed the dark place, I remembered the day when Shiny Latias killed my mom, Nathaniel was there and he mentioned his old base."

"Nathaniel…!" Isaac angrily said "I remember that guy. I promised the Sandile's I would save them from him… but I couldn't. And now he's out there still. We gotta stop him before he starts again."

Our stay within The Savior's building and Castelia City was short, The Savior's had our back and would support us on our search throughout the region. It would be a long search, and I intend to get stronger to prepare myself for our confrontation with the enemy.

Our next location was the Desert Resort, to where we would find the hunters base, perhaps still abandoned, or perhaps occupied by someone who could help us on our search for Team Doom.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

In the original, Sophia a character from Pokemon Dreams - 02 Till the End of Time was originally supposed to appear within this chapter. But this was cut so she could appear in a future chapter to further explain Team Doom instead of revealing almost everything early on.

**AN: Yeah, this chapter was short, i know. But i will make it up for it in the next chapter. Thanks for reading. Until next time.**


	16. Chapter 16 In Search of Doom

**AN: And here's chapter 16 for ya'll. Chapter 17 may be a little late, since once again my computer is dying, but I'll see what I can do for next week. Please enjoy.**

Chapter 16 – In Search of Doom

* * *

****

**Route 04 & Desert Resort**

Route 04, it was the direction me and Sakura took almost five years ago when I first became a Savior to travel to Nimbasa City to escort Chikorita back to her Pokemon trainer in Opelucid City. Route 04 would take us to Nimbasa City if we took the right path further up north of the route, but instead we had to take the left path in the direction of the Desert Resort, a place where we would find the hunters hideout.

When I accessed the dark place, a place I can access my mind, view past memories like there are screens in front of me, listen to music I know well, practice my Psychic type moves whenever I had free time. I used it to show me the memory of when my mom was killed; within it Nathaniel who was once a member of Annihilation, ex hunter, now a red Pidgeot with fire type moves mentioned his old base. It's a long shot, but we might find something in that old building that would lead us directly to the location of Team Doom and Shiny Latias. We could only hope we would find at least something useful.

"I haven't been back here since all of us were together… I… whenever I see the Pokemon of this area, I just don't know how to do it." Sakura sadly sighed as we came to a stop to look at the location we had not been to in a long time. Isaac had once told us that whenever he tried to come back to this area, he would often be reminded of the Sandile's he wanted to save but couldn't. He wanted to make amends for the Pokemon, promising to protect them from hunters, making sure the area was protected from all kinds of bad things if he could. But no matter how much good Isaac did, the Pokemon of that area never forgot, they never forgave him. The Desert Resort was the first place we ever met Isaac, it was the place Sakura and I became friends with him and travelled together, not really a good place for revisiting memories. But it was a place we had to enter, no matter the troubling memories it may bring forth.

Entering the Desert Resort for the first time in years, the mountains in the distance, the large and small hills of sand everywhere, the small oasis further up north could still be seen, and the Desert Ruins beyond the oasis, everything looked almost the exact same, like stepping into a memory.

The hunters old hideout entrance was located somewhere northeast of the Desert Resort almost hidden behind tall besides the edge wall of the resort. Sure there are a lot of large bushes and shrubs near the walls of the resort, but to find it, we just needed to start off from the oasis and follow three or four large rocks sticking out of the ground, and from the last rock we face directly west, walk a few paces until we reach the large bush… if it was still there that is.

"Hm, I kind of expected to see at least one or two people walking about this place, but as far as my eye can defiantly see, there ain't a living soul around." Espeon said as she craned her neck up high searching in all directions to catch a glimpse at least one other person besides us within the Desert Resort. "Is this place meant to be a popular area for people to go to? If so, where the heck are they at?"

"This place has earned a reputation since everybody found out hunters were here. A place quite a lot of people especially trainers have often avoided in fear of another hunter taking their Pokemon." Isaac explained, kneeling down at the sand, scooping a little in his hand. "It's been a while, but I am doing all I can to make this place a safer area not only for trainers and people like tourists or workers fixing walls or explorers searching the ruins, but I want to make this place safer for its residents; the Pokemon."

"How is it going so far?" I asked, watching Isaac let the sand pour through his fingers as he stood up.

"A year now. I managed to get some old friends from my high school to help me out with the campaign to make this place safer for everyone. So far it's going so well that very soon the Desert Resort will be back to its normal self, perhaps something better."

Suddenly, Espeon started to spit while rubbing her eyes, lashing her tail as her rubbing increased. "Gah! D-damn it Isaac! S-some sand got in my eyes and… gack! M-mouth… agh!" The wind was starting to pick up, then Espeon wasn't the only one with sand in her eyes and mouth, some was caught in mine, then Latias, then Sakura and Isaac. Then before any of us realized it until too late, was that we were caught up in a sandstorm getting stronger slowly. We wouldn't make it back in time to the exit of the resort, the only thing we could take shelter was by the oasis twenty paces ahead of us where the tent should be for people or trainers whenever a storm hits, which was like three or more times a week during late summer.

* * *

****

**Desert Resort – Oasis**

To wait it out, we took shelter at a guest tent set up at the oasis providing us shelter from the sandstorm lasting two hours almost, and we were caught right as soon as we entered the Desert Resort. The tent was large enough to fit about eight or ten people, stocked with free water, dry supplies such as berries, and biscuits let in a straw chest on the opposite side of the tent entrance. These supplies left behind were left by a ranger who works within the desert resort providing trainers and Pokemon some food and sometimes a plenty of potions and antidotes, and bandages and such for humans. Outside of the tent, we heard the storm grow fierce by each passing minute.

"Are you alright Espeon?" I asked offering her my bottle of water from our bag of supplies.

"I…w-will be…all…right," Espeon spat between words, then finally she took the bottle with her Psychic and rinsed her mouth out of the remaining sand with a shudder at the taste of the sand that was in her mouth. "I hate sand… if I ever turn to the dark side of Psychic types and I become some cyborg-like Espeon with a black cape wearing black armor and a mask that'll deepen my voice, remind me never to come here again… because references."

"S-so, you guys think we'll find anything at the hunter's hideout?" Sakura asked, looking over at the map she had grabbed out of her own bag to look over the area of the Desert Resort. "Because I really doubt Team Doom will be there. I mean main actual base being this close to The Savior's."

"If my sister is in that old hideout, I'll let you know." Latias said to us as we agreed, all of us except for Sakura who couldn't understand her or any of our Pokemon.

"You know, I'm the only here in this group who can't understand Pokemon, I hate being left out." Sakura pouted.

"Don't worry 'bout it Sakura," Espeon smiled across the tent at her. "Back when me and Zackary travelled through time three years ago, Lisa and Bent couldn't understand what their Pokemon said or any wild one we met on our travels. So we'll let you in on our conversations so you don't feel left out. Isaac has just volunteered to be your translator."

"Yeah of course I'll help out. But why do I have to be the translator?"

"Well I am a Pokemon, and our mission to find Team Idiotic Doom will be a dangerous one. I can't translate while at the same time defend you guys during battles. Speaking of which," Espeon said as she turned towards me. "Perhaps it will be best for you to train with your moves while the storm dies out. We won't know what we'll find at the hideout till we're there. It may be full of those Doom idiots Shiny Latias mentioned, or the big idiot herself. Better be safe than sorry."

I nodded my head agreeing with her on this one. I was still inexperienced on fighting. Sure I knew my moves, how to use them, but never against an opponent or two. I needed to be even stronger than I was if I wanted to fight Team Doom and Shiny Latias. "Your right. I'll use this as a good place to enter the dark place and hone my Psychic moves until the storm dies out. Let me know when it does." Shutting my eyes, concentrating like I had before to enter my mind, I finally entered the dark place to practice on using my moves more efficiently. I had hoped within the hideout I wouldn't find Team Doom or Shiny Latias within. One being that with my strength and experience being low and I would easily end up dead if I fought against them, no matter how many stood alongside me in battle. And two; I was worried about my friends. What if Team Doom and Shiny Latias were inside the hideout and they were hurt or killed because of my inexperience. I had to get stronger for what was to come, but how in a small span of time?

* * *

****

**The Hunters Hideout**

The storm lasted for nearly two hours, it barely gave me enough time to get at least Psychic strengthened up from my current weak form, but it had to do for now.

Following the first set of rock formations starting from the oasis till the very last rock and then heading west to the wall with the large bushes, we found the entrance to the hideout of the hunters. Long after the discovery years back, the police sectioned the entrance off with a large fence to prevent anyone from entering. However that fence didn't last long thanks to a lot Pokemon living within the area once believed to be random kids breaking inside.

After a short walk through the curved dark path, light slightly obscured due to the high walls of the rocks, we turned the next corner to find the large structure that was once the hunter's hideout.

A dark wooden vine covered structure with many bordered up broken windows, metal sheets used as the roof of the building, an old four seated car with the wheels gone and windows all smashed. All of this surrounded by a large steel rusty fence with barbed wires attached at the top. The area was eerily quiet; the loud wind howling from the Desert Resort was nonexistent here. But were we alone here? A question we had to find out before whoever was inside knew we were here alerting perhaps the others inside to our presence.

We crouched down behind a large sheet of metal, large enough to conceal our presence from whatever or whoever was inside if there was any. We needed a plan; how to enter, how long we should stay for if there isn't anyone inside, but if there were someone in the hideout, hostile or just some homeless guy and their family perhaps, how do we approach them?

"See any signs or hear any activity going on in that hideout Latias?" Espeon asked, whispering as Latias perked her ears up, peeking her head out cautiously from the large metal sheet, waiting in silence. Latias had amazing hearing; she could easily pick up sounds and voices from far away rooms or across a field if she focused hard enough. One time when I was alone with Gardevoir near the garden entrance of the laboratory talking about something other than dictionary talk like a broken record, she talked about how she almost started a collection of bottle caps once after her sister gathered many to stack them on top of one another to build the largest pyramid made of bottle caps they could. Gardevoir mentioned that she did like the designs and colors of the bottle caps her sister used to build a bottle cap pyramid, but she got bored after a few hours and moved on to her all time favorite book; the dictionary. Once that was all over, Latias revealed to me that she could hear it all the way from the tree all of us hanged out under. Then letting me in on what other Pokemon were saying across the field to each other, and what people walking by the lab were saying, a few discussing on what starter Pokemon to choose. So if there was someone inside the hideout, Pokemon or human, perhaps both, Latias would defiantly hear at least something inside.

"I… I can hear something… I think. T-there's something… I can pick up…" Latias squinted her eyes, her ears twitched frequently the longer she stared at the quite rundown hideout. "I don't know what it is, but I can defiantly pick some sounds within, breathing… a lot of breathing inside, and footsteps." She nodded, backing away from the edge of the metal sheet to join us.

"How many can you pick up?" Espeon whispered.

Latias shook her head. "I can't make it out. It sounds like there are a bunch of people inside… I don't know it's far too noisy in there for me to count."

"Noisy? I can't hear anything." Isaac asked, glancing up from the metal sheet to stare and listen for noises coming from the hideout, but we could hear nothing from here. "Hey look, at the side of the building to the left." Isaac pointed his finger to a large smashed up window big enough for Latias to fit through. Through the front door of the hideout, whoever these people were inside; good or bad, we didn't want to alert them by coming in through the front, but maybe if we entered through the side, peek through the door or something and figure it out who these people were inside the hideout we could plan our next move; homeless people, then we'll just talk to them and try to convince them to let us search around the building for any signs of Doom or notes left behind by Nathaniel, and if it were gang members or members of Team Doom inside, I had hoped things wouldn't get too ugly.

"Zackary, a word before we start this?" Espeon halted us before we started for the window of the hideout. "Remember Zackary; you are still in training, so don't go running in thinking you are 'John Mcbain' or 'John Stick' or some other totally original sounding action movie character. Me, Latias, Sakura and Isaac's Pokemon can handle the fighting. Just stay back and watch our backs."

I slowly nodded, understanding that my place for whatever it was that awaits us within the hideout wasn't on the front, but behind them, a place I didn't want to be. I wanted to fight alongside them on the front; I wanted to protect them from the dangers of Team Doom. But with my inexperience, I would be in the way. Suddenly, Espeon held up her paw, placing it on my shoulder. "Zackary, it'll be alright. Trust me on this. If we stick together as a team nothing will go wrong."

I just had to believe her and hope everything would turn out well for us, no one hurt, and no one dead. One by one from behind the large metal sheet behind the fence of the entire hideout, we crouched low to the ground to reach the large window at the side of the building. Isaac looked through first, signalling to us that the coast was clear for us to enter. And once inside we would discover who it was, friend or foe?

* * *

****

**Hunters Hideout – Storage Room**

With all of us now inside the hideout came the question we wanted to know; Who it was that was inside this building. The room we were in was large enough for all of us to fit in; it was a large room with many shelves lined against the wall stacked with wet boxes full of tin cans of unknown contents and old torn sheets filled the room causing an unpleasant smell.

Walking slowly toward the door, turning the handle with my Psychic and slowly opening the door only by a little to look through, I saw on the other side was a small corridor lit up with lights, two doors on the left and the right. _"So there is someone in here." _I thought. _"They even got the generators working. But it doesn't tell us who these people-"_

Something passed the door, a man stopping at the right door. He was a tall man wearing all white armored gloves, suit, pants with a belt with many pouches and a handgun attached, and boots. His appearance was concealed by a white helmet with a red 'V' shaped visor. On his left arm was an emblem, a red letter 'D'.

From the man's belt, he took out a set of keys and unlocked the door in front of him. After opening it, he left the door wide open as he walked through it.

"There's a man wearing some kind of white armor just right outside." I quietly said to the others after shutting the door. "He's a got gun, and on his left arm there is this 'D' emblem."

"'D' huh?" Espeon shrugged. "Either stands for 'Doom' or maybe 'Dick'… the world sure is a mystery. So let's just go with Doom and let that be the end of it."

"But why this close to Castelia City?" Sakura asked as she grabbed Minccino's Pokeball preparing to release her to prepare ourselves. "I kind of figured the actual Doom hideout to be much larger and further away from here. And we did get inside this place really easily, no security cameras outside or anyone on patrol. This can't be there main base."

"You're right, it is too small. And not only that, this setup is really sloppy if we were able to get in that easy. But what are they doing here?" Isaac asked. But before any of us could reply to his question, the door quickly opened as the armored man was standing at the doorway gasping at our presence.

"W-what the?" The armored man stumbled back a little. He turned his head towards the corridors right door still open. "Intrud-" But he didn't finish. Before he could finish warning the other guards within the hideout alerting them to our presence, I quickly grabbed my scalchop, used Razor Shell and slashed at the man across his chest causing it to shatter slightly upon impact. The man stumbled back falling to the ground as soon as he hit the wall. That was the day I had used one of my moves against another living being. At all happened so fast, his sudden appearance, him shouting out to the others, I had to stop him. The first thing I could think of in the moment was 'Stop him!' act fast before more showed up. But what I did was the opposite at what I was going for.

He was unconscious, still breathing all of us could see, but then we saw something else; blood pouring from his chest from my Razor Shell I had used. I wanted to stop him from alerting the enemy, not give anyone an injury like this…

We heard footsteps approaching fast, and we had to act fast before they showed up. Sakura released Salamence instead of Minccino; Isaac released his Yamask while Espeon and Latias got into position to prepare for battle.

"Zack, get back!" Latias said and she began to use her Mist Ball in the direction of the right door as the footsteps were getting louder. I nodded and ran behind them.

"Enemy sighted!" one of the four men shouted as they charged through the right door and entered the corridor aiming their handguns at us preparing to fire.

Isaac was the first to make a move. "Ampharos, use Thunder Wave." then followed by Salamence's Dragon breath. The first attack from Ampharos charged up her attack as a surge of electrical energy shot directly at the four men stunning them allowing Salamence to charge up its own attack to deliver a finishing blow with Dragon Breath.

But we didn't have time to relax just yet. We could hear more guards from other rooms already alerted to our presence. Espeon and Latias rushed out of the room and charged for the open right door, with Isaac, Sakura and their Pokemon quickly following while I remained behind them carefully watching the left door for a sign of an ambush.

Inside the next room was an armory of some sort. There were tables lined up against both sides of each wall stacked with assault rifles, boxes of ammunition, and a strange large disk-like device of some kind emitting a low buzzing, all of them were marked with the same emblem as the guards had on their arms 'D' nothing here didn't explain why these men where here, we had to look in the other room.

Behind us, another armed soldier ran up to the door and shot at Latias, but the bullet missed and instead hit the wall. Espeon reacted first as she used her Psychic to pick up the man and forcefully push him back against the wall knocking him out cold.

Espeon took the lead as Sakura and Isaac with their Pokemon followed towards the next door. Latias levitated after them. "L-Latias I…" I called to her to let her know I was sorry and I should've paid more attention and stayed alert for anyone approaching from behind instead of walking inside the room away from the door risking the lives of my friends.

"We should keep moving." She said back, catching up with the others. Outside the corridor I caught up with the others outside the left door. Looking back at the unconscious soldiers, I glanced over at the solider I had attacked when we first got into battle with them.

"_I hope the guy will be fine. Just get this over and done with and call for an ambulance, he'll be fine."_ I thought already regretting that attack by the amount of blood he was already losing. I didn't want to kill anyone; it wasn't me to do things like that. In battle I had to be more careful, I had to get stronger and be aware of my own power to protect my friends and not kill anyone or anything, but I also feared that I couldn't because of my powers, and I would just watch them die and I couldn't do anything. _"Latias could've been killed… I have to be more careful."_

* * *

****

**Hunter's Hideout – Nathaniel's old room**

The next room was a larger room than the storage room and the armory combined. It was a large room with hardly anything inside other that a large desk with a large window at the back all covered with old newspaper and nailed up wooden planks. But sitting at the desk was another armored man wearing the same white armor and emblem as the other, but this one was wearing a lot more heavier looking armor around the chest and arms than the slimmer look of the other soldiers. "So what bring you to my humble abode kids? Are you lost?" The man asked slowly, drawing out his words as he stretched in his seat.

"Where are the rest?" I asked the man. "There are only like six of you guys here. This old building, no patrol outside, nothing but a small armory and you guys, where is everyone else? Where is Shiny Latias?"

"Well Dewott, there are reason for that, and tell tell ya." the man chuckled. "Although I gotta admit, I didn't figure you would come here, let alone bring ya pals along for the road. Things would've been a lot different if you came alone, didn't expect the plan to go a different route… Sakura Kanai, Isaac Anderson, Zack's Latias and Epseon… boy, this surly does change the plan…"

"Who are you, armor man?" Espeon asked. "You know our names, so do you mind introducing yourself to us?"

"The names not important, I'm just here to give you two things; a message, and a gift you'll surly benefit well in the future. Call it a starter pack for your journey into becoming the thing Doom wants from you, boy! As much as I would like to put a bullet in you for all you done, the boss has plans she wants to see through." The man spat bitterly.

Both Sakura and Isaac's Pokemon got into position, cautious of the man's sudden shift in tone. From a happy tone when he saw us enter now to a more angry-like tone with hatred in his voice. Whoever he was, it sounded like he had it in for us or me specifically.

"The first is the message, and it goes as follows; So you finally came Zack Raines, if ya hadn't we'd would've found ya sooner or later. Now ya see Team Doom is a new organization going around; we have our people, our goals, and our desire. Now you'd except us to say something along the lines like 'Don't you dare follow or many more innocent lives will be hurt' no, we Team Doom are something more than that, we want something great for all life to live peacefully in."

"'Something great for all life to live peacefully in!' Hah, funny you should say since your Team's leader killed Zackary's mom. How the heck is that peaceful?" Espeon shot back, carefully watching the three drones flying above them still.

"The boss does what she must to set her plans in motion." He chuckled, pointing at me with his finger. "Everything she did was to get you to come after us. And I guess it worked out well. I would've thought she would've something done more than just kill your mother. But it was an interesting plan nonetheless."

"Why?" I asked balling my paws in anger after hearing the death of my mom was planned. "Why?" I thought. I was desperate for an answer, wanting to know why they did this. Was it all for revenge for defeating Team Annihilation all those years ago? Juro's death, of course Shiny Latias would want that. But why turn me into a Dewott? "Why did Shiny Latias do this to me? Why turn me into this white Dewott? Why can I learn moves a regular Dewott can't? What does she want of me?"

"Afraid it ain't my place to tell the likes of you. After all, I'm only a messenger. And even if I did have the answers to your questions, I wouldn't tell ya."

"So what's this starter pack you want to give us?" Espeon asked before noticing all three drones had already lowered by the man's side.

"Starter pack?" He chuckled, pressing a button from underneath the desk. All three drones clicked as a mini turret emerged from the top aiming at us. "Experience for what is to come!"

The drones quickly flew towards us shooting strange blue-like pellets at all of our Pokemon creating an electric-like spark upon impact, but it didn't seem to inflict any sort of damage, no blood or burn from what we could see. But the drones didn't stop at one shot each to our Pokemon; they continued shooting more of the blue pellets. Ampharos moved in with a Thunder at one of the drones, a quick move that would damage a drone like that would've destroyed it with ease, but what we didn't expect was Ampharos' Thunder against the drone when hit, it barely damaged. "Hah!" He laughed. "These drones don't look like much, but these bad boys are filled with Doom's latest invention, they'll weaken any Pokemon they fire at. So with me joining in on this battle with my drones firing more pellets at your Pokemon, this'll be a quick one!" At that point he pulled out his gun from his gun holster and started firing at us with the drones firing with him at our Pokemon.

Salamence moved to the right side of the room with Sakura where one of the drones was, shooting pellets at Salamence as it attacked it constantly with a barrage of endless attacks each trying to make a successful hit, each attack getting weaker with each pellet hit. The drone flew around them making Salamence's attacks harder to hit, but it never gave up on trying as hard as it could to damage it.

Isaac with his Ampharos now joined with Yamask to attack the Drone seeing as though it had a more difficult time to fire the pellets at both of the attacking Pokemon. Both Pokemon did manage to land a few good effective hits against the drone, but their moves were getting weaker with each pellet hit, but they still fought it no matter what.

Me, Espeon and Latias were up against the armored man firing live rounds at us and the third drone still firing the same blue pellets at whoever was closest. Espeon prevented the blue pellets from hitting us with Protect surrounding us from damage while we quickly moved closer towards the drone so I could grab it with my Psychic to destroy it, moving on to the armored man next.

Latias levitated up towards the ceiling while quickly evading and blocking each of the armored mans gunfire, moving in close to subdue the man, and then all of us could then focus on the drones with ease without worrying about the man firing a gun at us.

Yamask continuously moved around the drone close, causing it to spin in midair trying to shoot Yamask while Ampharos attacked it with multiple electric based moves damaging it, breaking off a lot of pieces at a time. Then with one last Thunder directly at one of the propellers, the entire drone exploded leaving nothing but scraps of metal and blue dust behind.

Sakura called out her Marill and had her use Water Gun at the drone. The drone moved to aim and began to shoot pellets at the new Pokemon that had entered the battle, but it was too late for the drone as it was drenched in water from Marill's attack causing it to malfunction, creating sparks to appear around its entire body, slowing the propellers down, and finally hitting the ground. The drone was still moving, still attempting to fire more blue pellets at the Pokemon, but Salamence moved in and crushed the drone with its foot destroying it once and for all. All that was left was the final drone and the armored man.

With the drone in range, I grabbed one of my scalchops from my hip and threw it right at the drone aiming for its center body, but instead my scalchop directly hit the drone into the propeller, jamming it and causing it to explode immediately after. Latias moved in close to us as she used Protect to shield us all from the shards flying at us, and should the armored man attack again.

With the last of the drones exploded upon impact thrown by my scalchop. Pieces of the drones shot in all directions, all missing us, blade shrapnel, we were lucky none of that hit us, but it did hit one directly in the chest. The armored man back against the window had one of the propellers stuck in his chest, blood dripping, more than the one I had attacked earlier. It was a fatal wound, he wouldn't last long.

"D-damn!... t-that didn't go as I thought it w-would…" The man coughed before forcefully pulling out the blade from his chest and throwing it to the other side of the room. "Got these d-drones outta here… t-thinking I could take you on by myself… r-rough you up a little before lettin' you go with the finishing blow… didn't think you would be t-taking your pals a-along for the ride… agh!"

"Where are they? Doom, where is there hideout? Where is Shiny Latias?!" Feeling my anger surge through me, I stepped forward and with my Psychic I began to crush his neck slowly demanding the man to reveal to us the location toTeam Doom with his last breath. Suddenly, as my Psychic was strangling the man, a thought grew louder in my head, a thought or a set of voices to be exact telling me over and over to kill the man. I couldn't recognize the voices, it was like a combination of so many people talking at the same time, something I didn't like hearing the more it persisted within, but for some reason I began to agree with it on wanting to kill the man.

"Zack, s-stop!" Latias shook me with her paws. The voices quickly faded as did with my Psychic hold wrapped around his neck. I didn't look at her, I was still shocked at what had just happened. Turning away from them all, I calmed myself down, trying my best to ignore the man's troubled breathing and coughing every so often.

"S-somewhere up north…" He spoke after a long cough and spitting inside his helmet, flooding with blood no doubt. "I-f you believe… t-that… just head north. You'll find e-em… you'll find Doom…"

"No… r-regrets… *coughs* a-at least my family… my family w-will get the money… t-they will s-soon live… in a… a better….. w-world… one minute…. B-better run…. Kids…" The man finally drew his last breath, he was dead, and his hand fell to the floor. The room once silent was unexpectedly filled with the sound of a loud alarm. Then after that a voice from a speaker, a woman's voice counting down from sixty seconds, and fifty nine, fifty eight and so on.

"W-what the heck?" Isaac gasped. Turning his head back and forth towards each ends of the entire room. "_The armored man's last words were one minute. Was that countdown a bomb to destroy the hideout?"_ I thought at the moment before Isaac shouted. "Run!" and we did, all of us ran back out the door, leaving behind the unconscious soldiers we couldn't save. We ran towards the storage room window where we first entered the hideout as fast as we could hearing the numbers count from forty, thirty and then twenty could still be heard by the time we climbed out of the window of the storage room. We ran through the metal fence, back to the path where we first entered from, and past the large rock walls back to the opening to the Desert Resort.

And by the time my foot finally touched the hot sand as we ran, a loud explosion could be heard behind us, an explosion which caused the rock walls to come crumbling down on not only the path, but the hideout itself, the old wooden walls, the rusty metal sheet roof, the rusty barbed fence and the entire area surrounding it blew up, but not before being buried underneath a large pile of rocks and sand. Answers to Team Doom that could've been found if we had the time, it was all destroyed here, but elsewhere we would find them, perhaps north.

* * *

Leaving the Desert Resort, Espeon, Sakura and Isaac walked off ahead while Latias flew in front of me and asked "Zack, what happened in there? The way you held onto that man's neck with Psychic, the way your voice sounded, and your eyes, w-what happened to you?"

The only other person/Pokemon who knew about this whole eyes glowing because of anger was Espeon, not Latias. I didn't know where to begin on telling her about it, or how it caused me to almost kill four teens putting them in comas with so many broken bones and scars to live with for the rest of their lives.

"_Maybe I should lie to her about all of this…"_ I thought, noticing Latias was crying. Fear, confusion… maybe anger, hating what I almost did to him... _"I mean, what would she think of me if I told her about those teens, or about the voices in my head were telling them over and over again to kill the man. She would hate me, say something along the lines like 'Who are you? You are not Zack. He would never do anything like that.' But if I did lie and this thing happened to me again when I was near her, or arguing with her for whatever couples argue about, would that anger and these voices return? Forcing me to do something terrible…"_

"Something in the Doom Serum, it didn't just turn me into a Dewott, or change my eyes and fur color differently, or give me moves no regular Dewott can learn, but it did something else." I said to her, looking into her teary eyes as she lowered down in front of me and onto the ground. "T-there are these… voices in my head sometimes, voices telling me to do things… whenever I get angry. The voices tell me to hurt others… wanting me to use my moves to do whatever I could to cause them pain… even kill. My eyes glow whenever it starts to happen, and then the voices come shortly afterwards." I then remembered to that day I had first experienced it, the day my mom died. "It first happened when mom died, I-I just wanted to… I c-couldn't…" I broke down crying, clutching my forehead shutting my eyes tight in fear of my anger coming back with the voices following at that memory of my mom being killed with Shiny Latias flying away with that smile on her face.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, pulling me into a hug, I hugged back.

"I uh, I worried how you would react if I told y-you." I whispered both embarrassed and scared of telling her that. Turning my head up to look up at her, she wasn't glaring at me or scared, she was smiling.

"Zack, if you told me sooner I would've been happy to help you." She kissed me on the cheek. "Yes, the Doom serum did change you, it gave you these moves and an alternate appearance instead of a blue Dewott. And I want to help you. Whatever my sister did to you, these voices you hear, we can put an end to this together. You're not alone Zack, don't forget that." Together we walked back to catch up with the others; paw in paw… not walking since Latias decided to carry me for the rest or the walk towards Nimbasa City like a plush toy. We were heading north, the direction he said we would find Team Doom and Shiny Latias.

A lie, or was what that man said in the hideout before he died was the truth? The truth, not because he was dying, but because he was instructed to tell us by Shiny Latias herself, it had to be. That with whatever lies ahead up north must be were Shiny Latias is, or Team Doom. But first I needed to practice my moves for them to get stronger if I were to get into battle again with Team Doom. And then perhaps I could try and deal with the voice inside my head first.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

**Lisa and Brent were originally a part of the main story to help Zack and his friends, but this was cut since there would be too many characters.**


	17. Chapter 17 Time Together

Chapter 17 – Time Together 

* * *

**Nimbasa City**

Within the hour we finally reached Nimbasa City after leaving the Desert Resort and Route 4. Nimbasa City, a bright and colourful city full of endless activity and entertainment all whoever come here can find at least countless things to do; a baseball stadium, the musical theater, an amusement park with a big Ferris wheel and many stores full of neat things. The last time we were here together it was when we first met Chikorita now a Bayleef. I remember when she ran away from us and into the baseball stadium during a live game. We had to split up to find her wherever she was inside the stadium; the seating area, lobby, changing room, part of the playing field, it had taken some time but I eventually found her cornered by three tar players of the Nimbasa City Baseball team, three brothers by the name of Liam, Troy and Ashton Carter attacking Chikorita. I stepped in to stop them, and together we defeated them, it was the start of our friendship.

All of us were exhausted, some of us injured after battling those soldiers at the hideout, nothing major only a little scratch here and there and a little beat up. So to treat our wounds and to recover our lost energy we made our way to the Pokemon Center first before sightseeing. So our plan today was to rest up first, afterwards go out for a little while and tour the city have some fun, return to our rooms, train a little, and rest for tomorrow to continue with our search for Team Doom said to be somewhere up north.

After handing in all of our Pokemon to the nurse at the center except for Latias and Espeon, we walked to the room all of us would be spending the night, a small room with two bunk beds on opposite sides of the room with a large window with a nice view of the city… our beds facing the amusement park and the bright lights from the place closed curtains or not would surely keep me awake and if not others… nice(!)

"Hey uh Zackary?" Espeon whispered as she walked up beside me. "Why don't you use this as an opportunity to hang out with Latias for the day? Just the two of you?"

"What about you guys?" I asked. "Don't you want to tag along? I'm pretty sure we'll find something fun for all of us to do today."

She shook her head and smiled. "Nah, after that whole fight in the ye olde Desert Resort, drones draining our energy nonstop, running from an exploding building and being under the hot sun for almost an hour afterwards although I do love the sun me being a sun Pokemon and all, that bunk bed look really comforting right about now and a nice glass of lemonade to go with it. And I am pretty sure Sakura and Isaac would want to do the same. I mean they would only have an hour to do so since their Pokemon won't be healed up for another hour, so why not use that time and more to enjoy the city with Latias."

Glancing back over my shoulder at Latias lying down on top on one of the bunk beds, I agreed with Espeon, it had been a while since me and Latias spent time together, so obviously this was a good time to do so. The city was full of things to keep ourselves occupied. Yep, just two Pokemon; one legendary, and one Dewott with white fur, red pupils and irises with a black sclera, yep just an ordinary everyday sight to see in Nimbasa City, I'm pretty sure we'll blend in(!)

* * *

****

**Nimbasa City – Entertainment District**

"Whoa! Check out them Pokemon!" Exclaimed a woman somewhere within the crowd of people we had passed.

"Woo, they must be rare!" Another cheered, surprised at the sight of us.

"Now ain't they something special!" A man whistled holding up his phone.

"Mommy, Mommy! I want to go pet them!" A child squealed, pulling their parents hand attempting with all of their strength to inch close as they could towards us as we walked through the crowd.

"Ugh… this was a mistake!" I groaned quietly half to myself and half to Latias levitating close beside me as we walked further up the entertainment district. It was the first thing that came to mind when touring the city in search for something to do, sure we could've gone to the amusement park first, the stadium to catch the game, or maybe relax at the gardens and see the flowers with Latias, sit on the grass and talk. So instead of all of that without thinking too much on what other people would think of us walking together on the streets, we went to the entertainment district to check out the arcades and more, even forgetting that we weren't human, we were Pokemon; a legendary and a different colored Dewott, so obviously it would cast a good amount of staring, let alone a few people attempting to catch us.

"Don't worry about it Zack, just ignore them, smile and try to enjoy the moment of just us spending the day together… or half day since we spent the other half at that desert." She said smiling, nudging me with her paw.

"So what should we do first since we are here?" I said moving my head as we walked trying to catch a glimpse at the signs of the buildings through the crowd; food, ice cream, pizza, arcades and games, and a hand puppet show starting soon.

"OH MY GOSH!" Latias suddenly squealed loudly, yanking my arm to pull me in her direction. "Look Zack! At the arcades!" with the crowd finally out of the way and going about their own business after staring at us for a good few minutes, I was able to fully see the arcades, posters of games available, prizes you could win. I didn't know what Latias was getting all excited about until I took another glance over at the posters; 'Street Brawler IV' 'In Run' 'Sacman' and saw a poster for a 'Super Latias' game at the arcades for a limited time only. And luckily for us, today was the last day it would be at the arcade.

Before I knew it, Latias had pulled me inside the arcades in search for the Super Latias game she wanted to play. Knowing Latias and her obsession with Super Latias, this could take a few hours till she wants to do something else.

The arcades were filled with many games and varieties of fun things to do; claw machines, air hockey, a coin machine of some kind to win small prizes… yeah that's clearly about what was here, not much else. Our (her) search for the Super Latias game ended quick just as soon as we entered, a booth located at the corner of the arcades with Super Latias in costume, a red cape with a blue triangle on the back, and a red mask concealing her identity.

With my wallet full of cash now almost 44k after giving my dad Henry the money to help out with the debt for the house, five hundred a game couldn't hurt and because she was like a mega fan of the game she would be good at it and would only try the game out for several times before giving up.

The game we played was an 8-bit jingle of the Super Latias theme song after Latias inserted the money to play the game. The game was a side scroller, with a two hundred second time at the top of the screen, a score at the top right and Super Latias' HP and 'Power Gauge' at the bottom left. You could move up, down, left and right with the other buttons to shoot some kind of shooting attack to defeat an enemy, a button for 'Power' moves dealing heavy damage which consumed the Power Gauge, a Protect button to shield from damage but negates the player from attacking until the protect wore off, and another button to speed up the player to move around much faster to evade enemy attacks.

The first stage was set in a city, just a basic level of moving around from screen to screen to defeat all of the robot/plane enemies to get the boss fight to appear, a weird tentacle thing I first thought was a Tentacruel at first colored slightly different without the red dome things at the top. the other stages were a forest, then a mountain, a laboratory of some kind featuring Super Latias' arch nemesis, an old man wearing a lab coat. Latias didn't get to the end boss all in one go, it took her about twenty times to get her to face the final boss and defeat it, and with every failure Latias begged every time for me to let her 'one more game' costing me ten thousand leaving me down to 34k… afterwards she begged again to play at least one more game saying it was 'the best game ever created in all the world', it took a while for her to be distracted by something else in the arcades which was fine with… but that something else was a claw machine with a plush toy of Super Latias in it, and I lost 5k to that but she did win at it, playing around all day with a plush toy of her favorite character.

And immediately after that claw machine was a coin machine with key rings, collectable cards and candy featuring Super Latias on each of them… and I lost another 5k leaving me now down to 24k… so much for my retirement…

* * *

****

**Pizza Restaurant**

One pizza, a drink each, a table for two, and many people staring at us while Latias was pretending to feed her Super Latias plush toy surrounded by the other collectable cards and toys she won from the arcades with pizza.

"Isn't this great?" She asked with a little giggle. "If we hadn't come to the arcades first I would've missed all of this. Cards featuring all of the characters from seasons one to ten, key rings I'll attach to a set of keys defiantly in the future, and sweet candy! Oh… if only that Super Latias game could be released for home consoles, then life would be divine…"

"Aw, aren't they a cute couple." I heard a woman sitting at another table a little bit farther away from us with a group of three other women mid twenties all staring at us. "It's like they are on a date." Another woman from the same table said followed by many giggles from others.

I hid my face away from them. After so many attempts to ignore them and enjoy the moment, me and Latias were having, I couldn't drown out their voices, and their comments were causing me to blush along with Latias. And to make the comments and giggling increase in audio was when Latias reached her paw out and touch mine.

"So Latias." I spoke up, trying my very best to drown out the other voices with their endless giggling and whistling. "How about we head to the amusement park after we eat? I'm almost positive you'll enjoy the haunted house, or maybe…" I stopped, neither I nor Latias were human, so getting on rides such as roller coasters and the bumper cars would be impossible to go on because of our height not being too big enough or in Latias' case too large for a normal seat on a rollercoaster or any other ride. Okay that part sounded bad about Latias being too big to go on the rides, but we could however go in the haunted house, house of mirrors and Ferris wheel. "O-or we could check out the games or ride the Ferris wheel." I stuttered, letting my nervousness creep up on me knowing there were many eyes all on us.

"I'm sorry, but Zack, is everything alright? You look-" She stopped and moved her eyes towards the crowd, then back at me. "Zack, I told you before not to worry about them."

"I know it's just that I… I have never done this before, being in a relationship with someone, doing this in public. With all of these people staring at us, talking about us out loud, I… it's making me feel uncomfortable… s-sorry."

"Hey it's alright. They do that to a lot of other Pokemon doing this with another. I have seen it happen quite a lot, even talked to others who have gone through all of that, and over time they just ignore it and carry on with their lives together. And to be honest, I'm a little nervous myself." I felt a lot better hearing that from Latias. At least I wasn't alone on this. I just wanted the rest of the day or half day as Latias put it before to go well; for us to relax and enjoy ourselves without any worries.

"Oooh, there's an ice cream parlor right outside the pizza restaurant with a special half price sale on Super Latias ice creams!" Latias gasped looking out of the window and pointing with her claw at the ice cream parlor with a poster of a bowl of ice cream covered in sprinkles, fruit and candy in the shape of a Latias' head. "Zack, can we go, oh can we go pleeeeease?"… And that was another thing to worry about when out in public; Super Latias products plus Latias equals my wallet being drained dry. So much for my retirement…

* * *

****

**Nimbasa City – Amusement Park**

The amusement park was full of pretty cool rides and attractions, some we could go one, other would be impossible for us because of our height and… other reasons I already mentioned before. Being in the amusement park didn't attract as much attention in the city as in here which was a huge relief and a load off my shoulder, now I could relax and try at least to have some fun here. so we couldn't go on much rides, but there were a good amount of things to do to have fun; throwing balls at a bottle pyramid or whatever it's called, ring toss to win… another Super Latias plush neither of us won at and only ever attempted it two times thankfully before moving on without wasting too much money but not before collecting our tickets we won. The next game was a skeeball booth set up next to the whack-a-mole game we never got to play because of the surprisingly large line. It was the cheapest game in the amusement park to play and the quickest way to get many tickets for the prize corner. So we just settled with the skeeball booth and played for three games each earning a good amount of tickets, mostly low scoring ones but at least we had fun.

For the rest of the day we continued walking through the amusement park, sitting on a bench for a little while looking at all of the rides we couldn't go on, so instead we just sat there imagining ourselves on them waving our arms up in the air and screaming and laughing not caring for the stares, only this time I didn't notice them as much as I did. Just a Pokemon duo sitting together at an amusement park waving around, screaming and laughing, pretending to be on rides they couldn't. I wondered what the people standing around us must've thought when they saw us together; Pokemon left behind calling for their trainer, wild crazy Pokemon doing…something, or just two Pokemon having fun together. We enjoyed ourselves that day, slowly forgetting the stares of other people on the streets or in restaurants and quickly relaxing and having fun.

So instead of imagining ourselves on the rides we couldn't go on were to actually go on the rides we could; the house of mirrors reflecting ourselves a lot taller, slimmer, fatter, and warped bodies and heads. The next was the haunted house lasting only 5 minutes because of three reasons; the 'scary' props were broken, didn't make any sounds or move upon approach, everything looked unfinished and boring, and it was just a small building with absolutely nothing much inside rather than broken props and torn up curtains. And to make matters worse, it cost use both two hundred pokedollars to enter. Oh yeah, pay money to go to a place that looks like an abandon house and not much else(!) No wonder there wasn't a line…

The last thing we did together before heading back to the others was to go on the Ferris wheel. Something I feared we wouldn't be able to get into because of our sizes, but luckily both Latias and I could go inside and waited for the approaching passenger car to lower for us to enter.

Inside the passenger car, the wheel turned and we waited patiently until we reached the top to view the city at its highest point. It was a long wait, but the wait was worth it at the amazing view both of us saw.

The orange sun about to set almost hidden way beyond the horizon still covered the entire city in a warm orange light. We could see the tall buildings of Castelia City from this high up, as well as the mountains of the Desert Resort. The neon signs of the city lighting up one at a time to prepare for the night, bar signs, casino's, advertisements for new products, these are the things we saw amongst other sights, too much for us to take in for a quick Ferris wheel ride, to us it was quick.

"It's pretty." She said softly, gazing out of the glass window of the passenger car. I nodded, agreeing with her at the sight we saw. As the wheel moved again, Latias turned back towards me sitting on the opposite side of her. "Zack? I really had a nice day today; you buying me these plush toys, collectable cards and other nice things. I also enjoyed the food, especially the delicious ice cream we had before we came here. And the highlight of the day was when we pretended we were on the roller coaster's screaming while waving our arms around, I haven't laughed that hard in so long!" She said with a smile, leaning in close not only to hold each other's paws, but to kiss one another with me sitting down on the seat while she levitated off hers closer towards me. The two of us pulled away, looking into each other's eyes, blushing and smiling.

"We should defiantly do this again, come back here and spend the entire day here after all of the fighting is over." She sighed, relaxing her head on top of mine together watching the sunset.

"Of course we should." I agreed, nodding my head at the idea of coming back to Nimbasa City. "But next time, I'm not spending that much money on Super Latias merchandise like that again."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She hugged me a little tighter. "I was enjoying myself way too much. Do you forgive me?"

I shrugged, letting her know that I did forgive her and continued to watch the setting sun as the Ferris wheel descended slowly down to ground level, our next destination was back to the others.

* * *

That night, a few hours before we retired for the night I entered the dark place to train with my Psychic moves to get stronger to face our enemy Team Doom. The training began like this; levitating items from small to the size of a penny, and then large to the size of a bowling ball. I pushed them, controlled their movements by rolling them manually, rotating them midair and bending them. But despite these items I thought up were all in my head and not real, they were all just as effective in here than the real world. Espeon told me that if I remember what they felt like, how much they weight, for example; a bowling ball was heavy in weight and tough material, I could use all of that and recreate said item in my mind to train with.

Hours of training had passed, it was almost time for me to leave the dark place and re-enter the real world and rest. But for the fourth time since I entered my mind, I sat there and focused on her body, her height, her face and her voice. But like the other three times on trying to remember what she looked, sounded like, all I saw was a blur in front of me, a muffled voice. All I could remember about Cleo was that I knew she had light bluish hair, pale skin, blue eyes, yet it wasn't enough for anything to appear on that blurred up face.

I missed her, I missed them both; Cleo, Rhys, I didn't want to forget them…

To be continued...

**Trivia:**

The team was going to stay at the saviors HQ for a while giving Zack a chance to learn how to fight and how to protect those he cares about. But this was eventually changed so that Zack wouldn't stay int he same location for too long.


	18. Chapter 18 Fear

Chapter 18 – Fear

* * *

****

**Route 05**

An hour was all it took for us to get to this dire situation after walking away from Nimbasa city towards our next location; Driftveil City. It was a life and death scenario that if we were to survive without it for any longer, it would be a miracle. With a hot sun shining down on us, we took shelter hidden underneath the tree branches for shade to cool off until we continued on.

The heat just randomly increased halfway through the walk from warm to fiery hot within seconds. And the weather this morning was said to be a cool day today, no heat wave or increase in temperature.

"Ugh… s-so hot!" Isaac groaned, whipping away at the sweat forming on his forehead with his jacket sleeve. "And I thought the Desert Resort was bad with all its sandstorms, but nothing can beat this intense heat!"

"Ah, quit your crying already." Espeon spoke up with glee. "The sun is the best thing ever. And I ain't saying that just because I am an Espeon, I have always loved the sun combined with a clear cloudless blue sky."

Our dire situation you might ask; we forgot to take water with us on the hottest day of the year, thirty minutes away from Driftveil, and an hour from Nimbasa. A traveller's worst mistake when travelling out into the world; forgetting to restock on supplies and water… We only had empty flasks dry to the bone and not a single drop to be spared. So we had to rest up for a while underneath the shade, and once cooled off we'll make our way to Driftveil and restock on supplies then.

"Oh wait a sec; I know where we can get water from!" Sakura shot up excitedly from leaning her back on the tree.

"You do?" the rest of us said in unison.

"Yeah, I remember Route 05 has a small stream further up through the trees behind us." She said pointing towards trees. "It's only a little walk away from here, but the water is really clean and defiantly well worth the trek. Cause I really don't feel any cooler than I was back when we were out in the sun."

"Okay, you guys wait here and give me your flasks, I'll go and refill them." I said as I stood up.

"You sure you don't want anyone to tag along with you, Zackary?" Espeon asked while preparing the bag putting in all of our flasks inside. "Who knows what weird Pokemon lies within the Route 05. Perhaps a ghost?! Dun, dun, duh!"

"Nah, it's alright. I'll be fine on my own. And besides, I am part water type so the heat doesn't affect them that much. You guys stay here and relax in the shade, I won't be gone long." I grabbed the small backpack, small enough for me to carry without the bottom of it touching or dragging on the ground.

"Don't take too long, Zack. Be careful." Latias called out as I walked past the first set of trees and into the bushes acknowledging her. I didn't plan to take any detours or rest at the stream for a while before heading back to the others, I just needed to refill the flasks and return, a simple thing to do for a human turned Dewott, right?

* * *

Sakura told me the stream was somewhere up north halfway of Route 05. She didn't tell me how long it would take for me to get to the stream, but she did say it was quite the trek up. Hot without any water, getting some shade from the sun, all bad for us till Sakura remembered there was a stream through the trees, lucky for us, huh? The walk through the thick trees had taken me some time, five, ten minute walk I guess, I wasn't even sure how far I would go for me to give up on searching for this stream and return to the others empty handed. Then I heard something twenty paces further up behind the next set of trees, running water.

Running out of the tree line I found myself at a small clearing to see a small stream with water pouring out from a large rock. Kneeling down beside the water edge, cupping the water with both of my paws from the small water pouring out from a large hole in the rock, the water was clear. _"This must be the stream."_ I smiled, feeling relieved as the cold water trickle through my fingers. _"This'll cool us down from the sun until we get to Driftveil-"_ My thoughts were interrupted suddenly at the sound of the bushes behind me rustling, something was there. But just as soon as I stood up and turned, the thing or someone hiding behind the bush emerged all of sudden.

What emerged and levitated in front of me surprised me; it was a Mew, a female to my surprise believing Mew's were genderless like many other legendary Pokemon. She had snow white fur similar to my fur color, but her eyes were... strange. Her pupils were a dark blue while her irises were a sky blue, and just like with mine her sclera's were completely black.

"Uh, h-hi?" I said, not wanting to spook her into fleeing. I had never seen a Mew before given that they are rare Pokemon. If I were still human, maybe it would just vanish and flee, but now that I was a Pokemon maybe it would stay and talk maybe?

"Hello." She waved, levitating a lot closer toward me, in fact way to close that our noses almost touched. "A-are you a Dewott? But I thought Dewott's had blue fur, and black eyes not red? Oh my gosh! Are you like an incredibly rare Pokemon? Wowie!" She gasped as she examined every inch of my body levitating around me.

"Um, y-yeah I guess you could say that." I didn't tell her I was once a human, not wanting to frighten her that'll she run away or something. Being this close to an actual Mew I didn't want to say or do anything that'll cause her to flee. "Do you live here?"

The Mew shook her head, lifting up a small orb of water from the stream. "I travel here and there from time to time, looking for a place to call my own. Right now I'm just enjoying the sights, taking in the nature before moving on. And yourself, are you doing something similar?"

I also shook my head, slowly and quietly setting the backpack down. "No, my friends and I are… well we are travelling the region in search for uh a-adventure, yeah." I lied again, not wanting to bring up Team Doom or Shiny Latias with her.

"Adventure huh?" She smiled after drinking up the entire ball of water. "And what kind of adventure are you and your friends hoping to find? A little bit of thrill in your life? Just a get together for you and your buddies? Sounds neat!" She used her Psychic and offered me a ball of water she collected from the stream. Trying to grab the ball of water with my paws only ended with my paws going through it, so instead I just drank it while the Mew kept it in midair.

"Oh! Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." She giggled cutely as she covered her mouth with her paws. "My name is Jessica, and what about yourself?"

"Nice to meet you Jessica, my name is Zack." I greeted her with a warm smile, and she smiled in return. "You have a human name, were you once owned by a trainer?" She shook her head.

"Nope, I have never been owned by anyone. I have been with others before, treated me like family, never have been any reason for anyone else to claim me as their own. What about your friends you travel with?" She said pointing over at the backpack full of unfilled flasks. "Are they humans?"

"Two of them are the rest are Pokemon." I nodded, almost forgetting to refill the flasks and return to them, not wanting them to endure the heat for much longer. Standing up and walking over to the backpack, I opened it pulling out the first flask to refill it from the water pouring out from the rock wall. "Speaking of which, I need to refill these flasks and get back to them as quick as I can."

"I wish I could have an adventure like that…" Jessica said sadly as she levitated down and sat the edge of the stream, leaning her head on her open paws. "Travel the region and perhaps beyond with a friend to watch your back, do things together, and have fun… lucky…"

"So what's stopping you exactly? Just talk to your friend and ask if you want to go out for a little while, see the sights." She shook her head, using her little finger to twirl at the water.

"I can't it's um… it's kind of complicated. Y-you wouldn't understand…" She looked up at me, quickly shaking her head. "I mean, I just hang around with a bunch of not so nice Pokemon from time to time living in the same old place every day and night. S-sorry to uh drag that on you…"

"If they're not nice, why do you stay with them?" I asked her after noticing that there were a few long thin lined scars visible through her fur on her lower back, I hoped they weren't the ones who did that to her, maybe us stopping here was a sign somehow, that we could.

"I don't know… the closest thing I have to a family I guess…" she shrugged.

"Hey, how about you come with us?" I kindly offered with a smile. Ever since I obtained Gardevoir I never caught any wild Pokemon after that. "My friends and I would be happy for you to join with us."

Jessica blushed and looked away shyly. "O-oh um… I-I uh… s-sorry, but I can't. I uh appreciate the o-offer, but I can't… it's kind of complicated. But thank you Zack, but I am alright with these Pokemon, they don't hurt me. This was done by something else not caused by Pokemon." She said looking back at her scars.

With a sigh of relief knowing Jessica wasn't abused by her Pokemon friends, I continued to refill the flasks. Years working within the Savior's have helped me learn the differences whenever someone was either lying or telling the truth, most of the time.

Jessica levitated up behind me, watching as I refilled the flasks one by one in silence. Curiosity was what I thought at first, maybe she had never seen a flask before. But then another thought came to mind when I looked back to see Jessica staring at me with those blue eyes. I was a Dewott with red pupils and irises with black sclera, Nathaniel had the same, both once human injected with the Doom serum creating Pokemon with different colored fur, eyes, and with moves a regular Pokemon couldn't learn. Shiny Latias mentioned there were eight members of Team Doom. _"J-Jessica… i-is she a member of Doom?"_ I thought to myself as I stared into her eyes, almost dropping the flask when Jessica once again stood up close to me.

"I… I uh, really need to get back to them. M-my friends you see, they need to drink something because of the heat-" Jessica closed the gap between us.

"Zack…" She whispered before placing both paws on my shoulders. "I'm so sorry, if I only knew before then all of this could be avoided. You're not as bad as they say you are."

But before I could ask what she meant by that, she leaned in close as she could and her lips pressed against mine wrapping her arms tight around my back.

"Zack!?" A voice I recognized behind me after hearing the bushes rustle giving Jessica the chance to close the distance between us. Behind me was Latias, it took all of my strength to pull away from Jessica's surprisingly iron tight grip to look back at Latias and extend my free paw to call out to her.

"L-Latias wait! This isn't what it looks like-"

"H-how could you!?" Was all she said before levitating back into the forest in the direction of where the others were, her cries becoming quieter by how fast she was flying away from us.

"Why the heck did you do that?" I pushed her off of me, confused at her sudden action. All she did was staring down at the ground between us, twiddling her fingers in silence before finally answering back.

"Zack… I'm sorry, I really am… I did it because I was told to…" Was all Jessica said before vanishing into thin air, leaving me alone at the stream. But I didn't bother searching for her, instead I ran after Latias so I could explain this misunderstanding.

* * *

Running through the trees to catch up with Latias proved to be the most annoying thing, one; to navigate through since the trees were very close together making the path way too narrow (How did Latias fit through them? Above the trees I guess. But why did she go through them if she did go above?) and two; because of the narrow path surrounded by the tall trees I often ended up at a dead end or circling back around through this maze of trees.

***Bham!***

Then I heard something loud ahead of me echoing through the forest after scaring off a few flying type Pokemon hidden up above the trees. The loud noise, it was a gunshot. Then after that I heard another one. I must've froze in place at hearing those gunshots, fearing whoever it was with the gun must've saw… then I ran as fast as I could in the direction of the gunshot, climbing through the gaps of the narrow trees, ignoring the pain as I stepped on a few sharp rocks and scraping my arms on bushes covered with many thorns. I don't know how long I must've run for, but I passing each tree I prayed and hoped Latias' wasn't anywhere near the one firing that weapon, that it was just some random person firing a weapon at a bottle lined up or something that didn't involve someone dead or seriously injured. That Latias was already back with the others, but then I entered another clearing, one I had passed almost halfway between were the others where and the stream, and I saw who it was firing the weapon.

Yesterday in the Desert Resort in the hunters hideout were armored men covered in white body armor head to toe with the letter D on their upper arms below their shoulder. They were soldiers of Team Doom. _"Had they been following us since the hideout was destroyed?"_ was what I first thought until I noticed a the corner of my eye at what the soldier was shooting at, something bleeding, still alive… someone I didn't want to see in that state.

"No…!" I gasped as Latias was on the ground covering her two wounds on her chest gagging as a pool of blood spurted out of her mouth. I ran over and knelt down beside her desperately shouting "No, no, no! L-Latias!" fearing the solider would shoot again, I quickly surrounded both me and Latias with a Protect, the strongest one I could create. With my paw placed on her head, listening to her cries, and watching as she bled out while I couldn't do anything to help, I shouted out into the forest hoping my voice was loud enough for the others to hear and would arrive at any moment. I didn't have any Potion or anything to stop the bleeding; I could only watch and hope the others would show up and save her.

"Z…Z-Zack…I-I'm s-scared…!" She coughed, her eyes shut tight as she cried out from the pain.

"D-don't talk Latias, e-everything will be alright! S-save your strength, please, you got to stay with me. P-please…!" I felt a tear trickle down my cheek. Her breathing was slowing down, her movement slowed and her paws loosing strength in her attempts to cover her wounds. Looking up and into the forest expecting to see the others appear through the trees, I did not. About to shout for help once more, Latias struggled to say after coughing up blood.

"W-why Z-Zack…?" Then her paws fell to the ground, her breathing ceased… she was gone.

"Latias!" I touched her cheek with my paw. "N-no!" I shook my head, allowing the tears to be released. I gritted my teeth, quickly feeling the anger rise within me as the voices returned all telling me in unison 'Kill him' 'make him suffer' 'He must die' over and over again. Turning my head at the armored man still standing there aiming his gun at me, I released the Protect around us and charged directly at the man with my scalchop in paw preparing to use Razor Shell with intentions to kill the man. But I didn't even make it halfway for I was lifted in the air by a Psychic move engulfing my entire body causing me to loosen my grip on my scalchop letting it fall and hitting the ground.

Looking back expecting to see Espeon using her Psychic lifting me straight up in the air to hold me back from attacking the man, I saw someone else levitating there with the same grin she made before breaking my mom's neck; Shiny Latias.

"Now, now Zack didn't that annoying Espeon not tell you to control that anger of yours?" She laughed, levitating in front of me, turning her head back at the forest were she used her Psychic to grab both Sakura, Isaac and Espeon out from the forest all with bruises and scratches on their faces.

"Z-Zack… w-we're sorry…" Espeon struggled to say spitting up blood. Shiny Latias released them from her Psychic grip and let them fall.

"Girly ain't got nothin' to apologize for." Chuckled Nathaniel as he flew out from the trees landing directly in front of them getting way too close to Sakura, using his wing grab at Sakura's hair and bring her face up to his using his beak to peck at her scratching up her face some more. "Gotta say, momma said I was quite the artist when I was a youngin' guess she was right, but not in the canvas and paint brush kinda way. I like to use what I was born with to carve myself a masterpiece!"

"L-let me go damn it!" I shouted, trying with all of my strength both psychical and using whatever move I could to free myself from Shiny Latias' Psychic hold. "I'll kill you!"

"Oh will you know?" She smirked, then glanced over at Nathaniel and nodded a little. "Kill them." Before I could even shout or utter a word, Nathaniel used a powerful fire type move which appeared from underneath his wings as he flew up above them igniting all three of them on fire, screaming as they were burnt alive, struggling once again to break free from her Psychic, I found it to be meaningless since she was too powerful yet I was too weak. I couldn't even bare to look at them after their screams had died down.

"Not only did we take care of your friends here, but we also took care of the Nuvema folks!" He smiled throwing a set of photos on the ground in front of me. It took some time to focus on the photos from how high I was, but the photos were taken both at the Nuvema Town Laboratory and in the front yard of my house, and each photo had bodies, Yuri, Henry, all of my Pokemon had been shot dead. I almost threw up at what I saw; shaking my head trying to convince myself that what I was seeing wasn't real. "Family's dead. Eh? Lucky ya knew 'em at your age, hardly knew mine. So ya probably grow up with a messed up head like mine." He chuckled.

"Weak," She smirked, holding up one of her claws up to my neck drawing a little blood. "Too weak. With this power you have right now combined with your Doom tantrum, you couldn't even save my poor sweet innocent little sister from her death, or save your friends. 'L-let me go damn it! I'll kill you!'" She said mockingly as she began howling with laughter alongside Nathaniel. I stared at the bodies of my friends, _"I left them alone, if I never ventured off into the forest like that then none of this would've happened… t-they died because of me…"_ Everything was crumbling around me, I had lost everything, my friends, even the one that I loved, and caught within Shiny Latias' psychic grasp, it would only be a matter of time until she kills me, tortures me, or leaves me for dead.

"So, whadya wanna do with the kid? End his misery and off him for good?" Nathaniel suggested, engulfing both of his wings in fire. Shiny Latias shook her head, smiling at me, leaned in close to my ear and whispered.

"I will not kill you, Zack. You can do that yourself. It's not like you have anything or anyone to live for anymore." She let go of me letting me drop to the ground. "Now you feel as I felt when you took everything from me. Should we ever encounter one another again in the near future, know this; I will not kill you, neither torture you because, what's the point? You have nothing to live for; I have taken everything from you, so you can just live in a world knowing that I have beaten you." Were the last thing she said before the soldier, Nathaniel and her left leaving alone.

Kneeling on the ground and clutching my head, I cried and screamed so hard I hurt my throat, but I didn't care, I felt as though nothing could ever cure what I had just witnessed. I lost my friends… In that moment I felt defeated, there was no way for me to win, that I just wanted to give up. With one last look at my friends and then at Latias… I regretted taking them with me. Grabbing my scalchop, I aimed the scalchop where Razor Shell would activate from directly at my chest preparing to use it. The voices again echoed throughout my head, but this time instead of the usual voices telling me to kill, it told me to 'die' 'end it all' 'meaningless'

"_It would be quick…" _I told myself. _"Just use Razor Shell and…that'll be it…"_ Pressing the scalchop to my chest, closing my eyes tight, I thought of Latias' smile one last time before-

"Zackary!" I opened my eyes at the sound of Espeon's voice at the side of me. Emerging through the trees were Espeon and Latias alive and well. Latias wasn't covered in blood nor had any bullet holes in her chest. Espeon didn't have cuts or cruises on her face or her body wasn't burnt. "What are you doing out here? I thought you were going to get the flasks refilled."

Standing up, shocked and surprised to see Latias and Espeon emerge from the trees without a scratch on them, I turned my head to where Latias lay dead, only to see nothing there, no blood or her body. Then where Sakura, Isaac and Epseon were burnt by Nathaniel's fire attack, I saw only the grass and no charred remains. I was confused; a minute ago I was convinced I saw Shiny Latias and Nathaniel kill them with my own eyes. The gunshot before sounded real, everything felt real… but they were alive.

I explained what had happened to the others after returning to the road of Route 05. The Mew named Jessica, Latias in the forest (didn't mention the kissing part) the gunshot, Shiny Latias and Nathaniel appearing, and everyone dead. But none of them heard any gunshots or saw anyone pass by since I left. So instead of going back to the small stream in the forest after I told them I was convinced at what I saw was real involving Team Doom, we got the fuck out of there as fast as we could ignoring the heat the best we could.

I wondered what part of any of that was real or was I just imagining it all? Was Jessica real? Was she responsible for these hallucinations? Or was it just the Doom serum doing something to me?

What I had just witnessed were things I feared; loosing everyone I cared for. To make it worse, I couldn't do anything but just watch. It was terrifying at what I saw, it is what changed my plan for when I get into Driftveil change from relaxation and exploration similar to Nimbasa City but with everyone else to that of extensive training. I didn't want that hallucination to become reality.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

Shiny Latias and Nathniel were originally set to appear within this chapter to test Zack. But instead, Jessica was introduced a few chapters earlier than planned.


	19. Chapter 19 A Different Side

**AN: Chapter 20 may run a bit late because of computer problems again, but I'll see what I can do.**

**Thanks for the reviews everyone, I do hope I can get better at this to make better stories someday. Thanks for reading and please enjoy.**

Chapter 19 – A Different Side

* * *

****

**Route 05 – Camp – Jessica's POV**

My name is Jessica, eighteen years of age and born in Nuvema Town, moved away at the age of ten due to complications with my parent's job. Like with my other so-called 'friends' here with me although I'd rather call them co-workers instead, we have a few things in common; for starters all of us are tied in some way to the team once known as Team Annihilation, either as ex-soldiers, scientists, children of Annihilation members like me, or pets like Shiny Latias was with Juro the boss of Annihilation (Like I would ever say that to anyone else or to her face, I would be K.O.d for good if I did)

And two; Shiny Latias says all of us have a hatred for a boy who is the same age as me named Zack Raines. I have never met him before the change happened or even cared. All I was told about him was that he was pure evil by one other Dewott working alongside us, 'Troublesome' by Nathaniel, and a 'Monster' by Shiny Latias.

I became an unofficial member of Annihilation when my parents joined them when I was seven, so I didn't have what you call a normal childhood since all of it was regular teaching for other Annihilation member's children. Studying, class, studying, class and not much else in between so I hadn't had the pleasure of enjoying candy or watching tv when I became an official member of Doom just after Team Annihilation's downfall.

I didn't know my parents that much, just that they lived and fought for Annihilation rarely having the time to spend with me, so their death didn't really faze me that much, I just shrugged it off. I know that sounds cold, but after hearing or reading the reports on what my parents did before they died; murdering Pokemon and people of different ages to be used on this zombie experiment Juro started up years ago to be additions to his army, I was shocked not knowing that my parents were capable of doing something like that, well I kind of did because they barely showed any emotion instead of angry yells to one another for some reason.

After the downfall of Annihilation, me and several others were taken to what we now call Team Doom HQ and we were told that we were to become Team Doom's Eight, but there were only seven of us in the room at the time, so either they meant someone else would show up later or that our leader Shiny Latias was the first. But a man named Cornelius was given the number 01, followed by Nathaniel as 02, a teen a few years older than me now an adult named Ren as 03, a young woman around the same age as Ren named Rose is 04, then me as 05, Martha an older woman mid fifties and one of the teachers at Annihilation's school as number 06, and then there's Harry a scientist from Annihilation numbered 07. And number 08 is said to be Zack Raines.

All members of Team's Doom Eight all have two things in common, they were all associated with Annihilation, and they despise Zack Raines. Cornelius hates him because everyone else hates him, no other reason in doing so, so he's joining the bandwagon I suppose. Nathaniel because of his hunting business shut down losing everything he owned. Ren for losing his mentor by the animated corpses tearing her to shreds, and then there is Rose who is sharing Ren's hatred for Zack. And my teacher Martha for losing so many children in her care as a teacher within Annihilation. Harry for some reason he doesn't like to share amongst us.

Everyone hating on Zack in Doom and see him as a murder and or destroyer of one's future, everyone that is except for me since I don't have anything against him.

All members who have been injected with the Doom serum and change into Pokemon gain access to unique abilities that would aid them in battle. Abilities such as changing your own weakness and strength in battle, anger strengthen your powers when enraged, poisoning all enemies within range for a long time, and then there is my ability, one that I wasn't experienced well with when using it for the third time, the last time on Zack.

My ability is creating realistic and violent hallucinations of whatever scares whoever is in range. Making the victim believe what they see is real until it kills them. My ability is activated whenever I feel frightened or scared at the situation or remember a past memory. The first two times in Shiny Latias' words were harmless experiments to test if we could control our abilities, but in my view they were more like torture than anything harmless. The soldiers we used our abilities against were seriously injured, a limb lost and some often leading to death, or both.

My ability was the worst out of all of them combined, watching people believe what they are seeing is real, crying, screaming and shouting at their loved ones dying. Many died while my ability was still active, but for those that did survive by order of Shiny Latias, they were taken away for further experiments and never seen again. Yesterday was my first time using my ability out in the field rather than at our hideout, so I was obviously nervous using it out in the open not wanting to involve any innocent people or Pokemon. Shiny Latias didn't care who was caught within range of my ability, she said 'As long as the Dewott is caught nothing else matters. Capture him just as soon as he enters Route 05.' The Dewott did enter Route 05, but not alone. He was with his friends, two humans, a teen boy and girl, and two Pokemon; an Espeon and a Latias both female following him sweating under the hot sun. So disobeying her command to capture him just as soon as they entered I waited a while until the Dewott was away from them not wanting to hurt the others.

I was told to capture Zack, implant an idea into his head; 'Find a way for him to search for us alone, make him cast his friends away so Doom could take care of him themselves without killing him.' The usual length of my ability lasts ten minutes long, starting from a small scare to something really bad, so I had to carefully watch him before he killed himself like the others had done.

All I was told about the Dewott by the others was that he was 'evil' 'a monster' 'murderer' and 'destroyer of one's happy future' but after meeting him in the forest by the stream, I could see that he wasn't any of that, that him being this 'monster' and 'murderer' didn't exist within him. I was about to let him go, then knowing Shiny Latias somehow always knowing when somebody was carrying out her plan or not, I had to do it before she'd show herself and… well, who knows what she would've done if I didn't use my ability.

Using my ability, I had to find some way to start the fear to kick in; revealing myself as a Doom member, attack him although I wasn't anywhere near as powerful to last long in battle, or distract him. So the first thing that came to mind was to draw in close to him and kiss him thinking this was the best thing to start off with, and it worked, cause afterwards he believed his Latias was behind him and ran after 'her' in the forest. After he stopped at a clearing, I watched from atop of a tree listening to his crying. I felt terrible what I did, and freed him just after six minutes.

Did I succeed in making Zack cast away his friends after freeing him from my fear ability? No, but boy did it anger Shiny Latias a lot to the point of shouting and destroying nearby trees with her Dragon Breath. I was scared of her, scared of the stories the others told about how she treats those who fail a mission or small task. Nathaniel said after her shouting and destroying, 'Damn girly, you got off way too easily there. I reckon cause of that there ability you got, boy I'd say she still needs you, otherwise you'd be a goner right 'bout now.' Either that or I was lucky not to receive a scratch or two and just shout at instead.

Our camp a little up from Route 05 about 20 paces right from the stream had only us three at; Shiny Latias resting beside a set of trees closing her eyes to meditate or something, Nathaniel admiring the camps fire in the center often touching it with his wings suffering no burn, and me sitting on a fallen tree at the side watching the others awaiting instructions.

"You gonna get an eye sore if ya don't even blink, girly." Nathaniel chuckled. "Come over by the fire and warm yourself up, or maybe talk for a while till the boss wakes up from her sleepin'."

Levitating myself up from the tree, I did levitate towards him, but not anywhere near the fire knowing how much he liked to play around with it, little care who was close by, burning others with delight. So I just levitated over to the small tent we set up and sat there at the front. "Did I do an alright job yesterday?" I asked. "After the shouting from Shiny Latias, I don't understand what it was I did wrong. I did what she asked me to do; use my ability on Zack, plant a message in his head to travel alone instead of with his friends. Wasn't that enough?"

"Boss like's perfection. She wanted the boy to travel alone, but instead he is still travellin' with his friends." He shook his head, playing with the fire with both of his wings. "Ya did well for a first timer out on the field. But remember this, always stick to what the boss tells ya to do never delay or leave anything out and you'll come back without a shout or scratch, only giving ya a silent exchange while staring you down as if looking into your very soul to see if ya did as she asked one hundred percent."

It was true what he said about her. I remember a month ago when three soldiers came back after a mission near Black City, all they had to do was to pick up a delivery and come back, but Shiny Latias wanted it done within three hours, they came back five minutes late due to the traffic, she was furious and demanded that the driver to walk forward and pay for delaying her, he did immediately and that was the last time I or anyone else ever saw the driver. I didn't like being this close to her or talking about her not knowing if she were listening in. even if she were; I had to add a comment saying that'll succeed next time, not wanting to let her down.

"So I'll do better next time. And that's a promise." I said half to him and the other half to Shiny Latias, hoping if she were still awake she'd listen and go easier on me the next time if I ever do screw up a mission or task. Maybe working with her in future could be better.

"Heh, I believe you on that one, kiddo. Just stay both positive, stay focused and you'll do well in the next mission or two." He chuckled lightly, setting his fiery wings to his sides. "Cause everyone gets a shoutin' at from the boss from time to time. ain't nobody here that get special treatment. So if ya get shouted at, just remember that we Doom members are in this together, so talk to us or me if ya ever feel like some one on one time." Compassion, it was a rare thing from Nathaniel, hardly ever showing care for anyone; allies, friends of anyone in general. But when it came to other members of Doom (those who have been injected with the Doom serum excluding Zack) he was always looking out for them, assisting them in battle and never leaving them behind (never Doom soldiers, he didn't care about them.). He once told me that he once had a rifle he often used during his Annihilation days and hunting. It was confiscated by the police when he was arrested when Zack and his friends defeated him; never saw it again after that. He even called it ironic. His rifle was named Mary, named after a woman he once loved. Before he was a member of Annihilation and before the hunters he was smitten with a young woman he met during college. Nathaniel at the time was in with a bad crowd with Mary joining with him on his life of crime stealing, robberies, and more.

So on one day when stealing from a bank, the police showed up and tried to arrest him, Mary and his friends. Nathaniel left her behind after escaping; she was arrested and put in jail never to be seen again. He told me it was something he later regretted when he was a member of Annihilation.

"I suggest ya get some rest there kiddo. Who knows when we'll leave and perhaps battle soon. And flying with my new wings still ache a little, even resting for hours don't do much." Nathaniel leaned back against the rock behind him and closed his eyes. Looking over at Shiny Latias, I saw her open up her eyes before levitating three large rocks.

We rarely spoke me and her, just about missions, and about… huh, I guess that's all we ever talked about. So with a big breath of fresh air, I walked over to Shiny Latias to uh, I don't know, try and break the ice with her a little?

"Uh, hi Shiny Latias, I see you are uh... lifting up rocks." I smiled nervously, never before getting this close to her.

"How very observant you are!" She growled, crushing one of the rocks with her Psychic until all that remained were small shards of rock. "What do you want Jessica? Small talk is it? Talk to the Pidgeot if you want any of that, or yourself."

"I was just going to ask when are we moving out? I mean like shouldn't we head on back to base? Cause that there enemy has moved on out. Oh jeez, I just sounded like Nathaniel just then…" Shiny Latias sighed and crushed the reaming two rocks, turned her head and glared at me.

"Because of you Jessica, the plan has altered." She said through her shut teeth. "All you had to do was to plant the idea of Zack not wanting his precious friends with him so he travels alone. Now I have to find a better plan to come up with very soon that'll involve his friends in the mix but keeping our end goal unchanged." I was about to argue with her saying that I did plant the idea in his head, but she would most likely yell at me some more or hurt me, so I didn't take the risk and tried to change the subject, something a lot more happier than this. _"Maybe I could talk about that Latias I saw travelling with Zack_?" I thought, thinking that she might be interested at this news.

"You know, yesterday I did see Zack travelling with a Latias." Her glare faded and turned into a smile, a creepy smile I only ever saw once before she crushed a soldier's hand once when he called her out on the ways she treated her other soldiers. At that point I was shivering all over, heart beating fast and almost levitating off the ground to prepare myself for the worst escape ever, fearing Shiny Latias would end me. So quickly, I added hoping to calm her down. "I saw them kiss before they returned to their other friends waiting for them on Route 05."

Shiny Latias stared at me in silence; her cold stare froze me in place fearing she was about to do something horrible. Yet, she did something else, something unexpected startling me first then Nathaniel as he awake to the sudden loud noise igniting his wings in flames, only to see the boss laughing mad.

Shiny Latias suddenly burst into laughter, a laugh which lasted for a good long while her eyes began watering. The laugh went on for so long like it would seem she would be laughing forever at this point. Backing away from her to be by Nathaniel's side together staring at Shiny Latias laugh like that had us confused and made us nervous being around her to the point we considered up and leaving her to return back to HQ. Then her laughter slowly died down, her stone cold glare left and an evil smile took its place.

"So, Zack is travelling with my sister then? And he's also in a relationship with her?" Her smile widened, levitating up from the ground and towards the fire Nathaniel slowly backed away from. "I believe I have found a better plan than what I had in mind. I wanted him to travel alone, sending my soldiers to his friends back at Nuvema Town and killing all of them leaving perhaps my sister alive should he decide to call it quits. He wouldn't leave his best friend in the hands of the enemy." She chuckled, putting out the flame with one of her moves. "But now with his friends involved, things will become much more interesting than what I had in mind." She laughed evilly

"Oh yes, he will find our hideout eventually, and when he does, he will wish he had never been born." She laughed once more before levitating up. "Come, we shall return to Doom HQ. We have so much work to be done!" Nathaniel and I both flew up off the ground and followed after her without question.

Flying alongside Nathaniel as we cast each other worrying glances often scared when Shiny Latias did something like this. You never know what was going on inside her head, laughing randomly after a long stare, hurting and killing others for her own amusement. Once she had a plan, she stuck to it like glue. And usually her plans involve someone getting seriously injured or killed.

I regret what I told Shiny Latias about that other Latias travelling with Zack, knowing Shiny Latias and her sadistic ways to see that her plans are one hundred percent complete showing barely any care for whoever got in her way, I feared his friends would get injured or killed. I wasn't like the rest of the other Doom members, hurting others to see that their mission be completed. Perhaps I could help them somehow, warn them that Shiny Latias is planning something involving his friends. Talk to them somehow. But if I did go and talk to him, Zack would probably attack me, either confused or upset at what I did to him not knowing why I showed him a nightmare world.

Even if I did go and talk to him, Shiny Latias would probably find out, and if the rumors are true on what she does to traitors, I'll be wishing for death. So I had to wait it out until I knew I was safe away from the eyes of Shiny Latias or her followers. I didn't want anyone else to die or watch someone they cared for, someone they loved being gone forever. And that's exactly what Shiny Latias would do once she finds Zack and his friends.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

**This chapter was originally meant to be about Zack training again to get stronger with his moves before heading out, but instead I chose Jessica as the lead for this chapter to explain her character a little more with other members of Team Doom.**


	20. Chapter 20 Two Dewott's

AN: And so chapter 20 is here and another 20 to go till the end of the story plus side stories later. Thanks for everyone for reading, and I really hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 20 – Two Dewott's

* * *

**Driftveil City – Café**

Training had proved to pay off well for the two days we spent at Driftveil City. Not only had I improved on my Psychic and water type moves, but I also combined them to create unique battle techniques. For example, when using my Razor Shell I used Psychic to grab the activated scalchop and spun it around my body at high speeds, concentrating with my all to focus on fast moving objects about to hit me or while walking/running toward my opponent it'll hit them. It proved to work during my training session with Espeon yesterday while she threw practice but safe objects at me.

I know I saw scalchop and not scalchops so I'll explain; I don't use two scalchops at once, I only use one should I accidentally let go of the one I was holding or if my opponent forces me to be unarmed. After all, it is for the best since I am not experienced enough for two handed combat yet. My battling skills were now much better than before, but not powerful enough to face Shiny Latias or any one of her Team Doom members. Since that Mew named Jessica did whatever it was to me, all of us had been on high alert for any unusual Pokemon or in Espeon's case 'Any people with unique hairstyles, hair colors and they are loud. Cause if you see on pink haired girl raising her voice for some reason within a crowd of the same haired colored people, then that girl is defiantly an important character. Because anime!' so for the duration of our stay here, I have been training nonstop to prepare myself for our next encounter with Team Doom.

"So Zack, I have been thinking about what we should do next." Latias spoke up from across our table while eating a bagel. "If Team Doom is somewhere 'Up north' just as that soldier said we would find it, shouldn't we gather our friends together and allies to help us out against them? Because that Mew you said you encountered a few days ago that created some kind of hallucination making you see believe terrible things, with all of us right now, I don't think it will be enough to fight them, especially if my sister is involved."

I thought about it, involving my other friends in this fight against Doom, with our allies together taking down Doom shouldn't be a problem, if Doom were just the ordinary bad guy we had to take down, these guys were different; Pokemon once human with new and unique powers. But there would be safety in numbers, but there would be lose if I did bring everyone here to help. I wanted to avoid losing anyone, keep the number we already have short.

I shook my head and told her that what we have already is fine, and we would be alright without anyone else getting involved.

Those hallucinations I saw, Latias, Espeon, Sakura and Isaac all dead, I never wanted it to become real. _"I have to find some way to get them to leave." _I thought watching Latias as she ate her bagel. _"If I can do that, then I won't have to worry about them, then I can travel by myself, train by myself until I know I can take on Team Doom."_ Thoughts on wanting to abandon my friends and to travel alone so they could be safe played every time I looked at them, worrying that soon when we encounter another Doom member again, then my hallucinations may be reality, I didn't want that.

"Sooner or later Zack, we'll have to gather the others to help us when we fight Team Doom at their hideout." Latias said in between chewing her food. "We can't do this alone otherwise… w-well I can only imagine the worst thing that'll happen to us if we fight them as we are now; just us five against my sister and her entire army of soldiers. We'd be lucky if we last an hour fighting them given our strength and who we already have with us."

"It's not just how many we have with us to fight against Doom, but it's our training we need before we fight them. Sure you could gather twenty, fifty, or even a hundred to fight alongside us, but Doom has an entire army of skilled soldiers and human turned Pokemon with unique abilities, that's why we need to train before taking them all on." I said thinking about the others who still needed to train. "Sakura and Isaac's Pokemon so to speak needed to train a lot more than I do. If we are going to survive against Doom we need to be at our best. Sakura and Isaac said it themselves yesterday that they only trained their Pokemon whenever they had free time to do so. And they rarely battle against another trainer or in Isaac's case because of his ability to understand Pokemon; he can just talk his way out of fights."

Latias swallowed the last piece of her bagel and lightly tapped the table with her claws before staring up at the ceiling deep in thought. "Hmm… well that is true that they don't battle a lot. You, me, Espeon and your other Pokemon are the only experienced fighters here since we have spent a few years nonstop fighting weird monsters, knights, and delinquents now and again."Latias turned her head and looked in me in the eyes with a concerned look. "Should we help train them? Or do you think that when we do find Team Doom or gaining closer to them, that maybe we should send them away, you know, so they're safe when we fight against Doom?"

I nodded quickly. "Yes, I mean when we do find Doom hideout. We could train them until we do find them, but I don't think they'll be ready when it comes to actually fighting Doom. It'll be better for them to stay behind." it would be best for them. They were in no way ready for the fight against Team Doom when we would find their hideout. If they had years to train then maybe, but they weren't ready, even if we trained them nonstop for a week or two, even if I would try to send them away they would still remain with us to see it to the end. I would just have to wait until we do find Team Doom and leave Sakura and Isaac behind.

I got up from the table and set down some money to pay for our meal. Latias was still eating another bagel filled with some other filling she enjoyed, enjoyment which lasted for at least six bagels worth. "Where are you going Zack? Do you want me to come with you to the Pokemon center?" she asked, I shook my head. Some of Sakura and Isaac's Pokemon along with Espeon patrolled the city should any member of Team Doom enter the city. After the thing with Jessica in the other route, all of us had been on high alert and carefully watched the city from both corners, every entrances and exits to the city and the streets covered while I trained to get stronger with my moves and to rest before heading out.

"No, I'll be alright going back by myself. You eat your food, I'm going to go back and rest up before we leave soon." She smiled and nodded before going back to continue eating her last remaining few bagels in peace.

* * *

**Driftveil City – Main Street**

The last time I was here was four years ago when me, Sakura and Isaac faced against a mafia boss named Drake wanting full control of the city from his brother. At the time he first introduced himself to us when we first arrived thinking this was a normal mission set up by someone wanting help, Drake and his wife forced us into doing a mission by tricking us into delivering a cake, a poisonous cake to his brother while he was still in prison. Upon returning to cake after finding out Drake wanted us to deliver his brother a cake meant to kill him, we returned to confront him only to engage in combat with his entire gang. After his gang were defeated, his gang, Drake and his wife went to jail never again a threat to Driftveil City again… or so I thought. Drake was finally released from prison after a year inside, never showed his face within Driftveil City until right after the time portals disappeared and everything was back to normal. Drake was silent in his return, remaining in Driftveil and never left. The Savior's watched him for a long time awaiting his next move to retake the city under his control.

So walking around the city made things a little uncomfortable, thinking if I did show up at the city again after knowing Drake was free from prison he would at least get his revenge or something. And since I was a Dewott now, how would Drake know that I had turned into a Dewott? I should be relaxing at this point than having to worry about an ex mafia boss. But I wasn't relaxed. With our Pokemon patrolling the city, and I being a white Dewott with red and black eyes, I stuck out like a sore thumb. Any Doom member ordered to find me could easily do that by blending into the crowd as a citizen, or a Pokemon and attack me at any moment, or my friends.

I couldn't relax, feeling my muscles tense at the sudden stares of the people and Pokemon I passed, fearing an attack. I had only ten more minutes of walking until I was finally back at the center away from the stares, the fear of any one of them being a Doom member ready to attack, then I was.

I was walking down a long and quiet empty street, a little shortcut I had planned to take to knock off an extra minute to my walk to the center slightly relieved how I was away from everyone staring at me that I didn't realize that being alone on an empty street wasn't exactly a good thing knowing Doom was out there somewhere. My muscles ached by the tension I felt as I walked further away from the noise behind me from the crowd and music. A cold wind blew by and I heard random noises in the distance; loud echoing footsteps on my left behind one of the buildings, a can or something metallic dropping to the ground to my right somewhere behind another tall building. I stopped, I was about to head back to the streets from where I came and stick to that crowded street than take another step through this street until I saw something emerge from behind a trashcan stopping only about 30 paces away and staring at me with a vicious glare, the same one Shiny Latias made before killing Ayaka.

It was a Dewott, but not your average normal or shiny Dewott you'd see out in the wilds, but this one had a dark gray fur were it should be blue on a Dewott's face, chest and legs, while it's ears, paws, feet and waist with scalchops attached were pitch black like mine. Unlike mine and Jessica's eyes, his eyes were completely black, sclera, irises and pupils. I didn't have to guess why this Dewott looked like that; he was obviously a member of Team Doom, most likely to kill me or one of my friends, so I didn't hesitate this time by standing around waiting for him to strike first and quickly grabbed my scalchop and kept Razor Shell activated about to charge at him, that was when he spoke.

"So you're the Dewott Shiny Latias despises?" He asked. His voice was calm, appearing unfazed when I reached for my scalchop and activated Razor Shell to prepare myself to attack him. His paws hung beside his waist balled up into fists almost moving the slowly towards his own scalchops. If this Dewott wanted t fight, then he would get one. I should be more than ready to face him with all the training I have learnt by now. "You see, she says she has a big plan all set out for you. I don't know why you of all peop- I mean Pokemon-" He corrected himself with a light chuckle. "-are important to her. This big plan, she wants it all done by us following our orders by not killing you. She says she wants you to kill us. Although I am not sure why that is, but you see, no, no, no, I shall not allow you to live anymore after what you did to me! Screw the plan! Shiny Latias can hunt me down for all I care, but I shall not allow someone like you to kill me after what you did to me!" He quickly grabbed both of his scalchop's and activated them as he raised them up. "This is for her!"

The Dewott charged towards me fast, I remained where I was, ready for when he got close enough to me to strike. I didn't know what kind of power this Dewott had or what he was capable of. If it were anything like Jessica's hallucinations then I had to be careful. Before I had considered on fleeing and rejoin the others, but instead I chose to fight believing myself ready for this kind of fight. _"I just need to get him close." _I thought. _"Attack with my Razor Shell for a while and then grab him in place with my Psychic. Then I'll make him talk."_

The Dewott swung his Razor Shells at me both in a vertical slash, and I blocked both of them with my own Razor Shell. The attack set me back a little, but it didn't feel like a strong attack, more like a test attack if anything. He attacked again using only one Razor Shell with his left arm not using the other, but they were slow, kind of weak. I was expecting something more than this, something powerful with a lot more experience, perhaps with more skill than repeating the same attack. "He's weak?" I thought in the moment still carefully watching his movements should he try anything. His movements were the still the same, so I decided to wrap this up and use my Psychic to grab and hold him in place.

Concentrating my Psychic energy to wrap around the Dewott to hold him in place, I could feel my energy wrap around him, but the Psychic was shattered upon touching. The Dewott ceased his attacks and smirked. "Didn't affect me, huh? I guess your Psychic didn't help you, wanna know why that is?" His smirk turned into wide toothy grin as dark energy engulfed both of his paws and then his scalchop's. "Cause I am a Dark type!" instead of attacking me vertically again with his Razor Shell, he instead used a move I had only seen once from another Dark type Pokemon; Dark Pulse. Moving one arm back, he charged up his move from his open paw as a ball of dark energy emerged from his finger tips forming at the palm of his paw. He then pushed that arm right at me and I was sent flying into air, the dark energy wrapping around, a painless feeling at first, but when I hit the ground with a violent slam face first into the cold concrete, that was when I felt an intense stinging pain surging throughout my entire body as if I were on fire.

Quickly springing to my feet ready for the Dewott's next attack, I saw him charging at me again, only this time he wasn't using Razor shell, he was using Dark Pulse again. Psychic was weak to Dark, and I all I knew were the moves; Psychic, Protect, Water Pulse and Razor Shell, so I had to leave Psychic out of the battle since it would nothing against the Dewott and try to find other ways to defeat him or find an opening to escape and rejoin the others. But there was a problem with leaving Psychic out of the battle, which was the only move I had trained on the longest and had the most experience on using, the other moves I hadn't put that much effort on training with to be on equal level as Psychic.

"Think damnit!" I growled angrily to myself not wanting to lose to him, him a member of Team Doom, the same team that killed my mom. Then the thoughts of her death began repeating itself over and over again as the voices echoed throughout my head 'Concentrate' 'then kill him' and the last part repeating over and over 'kill' but I shook my head not allowing myself to listen to the voices and instead try and find a way to escape this battle.

The Dewott was Water and Dark, so my moves wouldn't do much, but it could buy me some time to find a way to escape. I scanned the area around me; tall buildings with a lot of open windows, three trashcans beside one of the buildings where the Dewott emerged behind. I could get close to them. Use my Psychic on them and throw them at the Dewott and use that as my chance to run and find the others.

I stood there, raised my scalchop up high above my shoulders with Razor Shell active 'preparing' to attack the Dewott when he got close. I waited there griping the scalchop firmly with both paws and waited for him. He was about twenty paces from me, the number lowering very quickly. I had to time this well, I needed him to get close, really close for me to make my move that would either succeed, or one that'll end with me dead if I react to soon or too late. Ten paces, five… I struck down at him with a weak but quick strike, he dodged it and pushed his arm out again to attack me with Dark Pulse again, only this time I evaded his attack by rolling at the side of him and running towards the trashcans as fast as I could to get in range to grab them with my Psychic and throw them right at the Dewott so I could make my escape.

But before I could get halfway towards the trashcans, I pushed over when the Dewott suddenly used Aqua Jet, his body surrounded by water as he charged right at knocking me down on my back. The Dewott readied his Razor Shells with both of his scalchops and to my surprise he jumped up almost ten meters high and fell back down ready to stab me with his attack. Luckily, I was in range of the trashcans from here, but I could only reach one of them with my Psychic hoping that was enough to block the attack. Quickly grabbing the trashcan and pulling it by force in front of me, the Dewott's Razor Shell stabbed the trashcan, but immediately cut it in half with them before jumping off backwards.

With the two half's of the trashcan, I threw them at the Dewott with my Psychic and charged right at him with a Razor Shell of my own. The Dewott struck each half of the trashcan upon approach, and then he blocked my attack as I struck down at his head, but blocked it, pushing me back and off my feet, but I still persisted. This Dewott whoever he was, he wouldn't let me live, run or not. Even if I did, what's to stop him from going after the others in the city? So I had to stay and fight, I had to protect them. Charging once more at him, he swung both Razor Shells from both sides one at a time, and I blocked each strike deflecting the last one giving me a wide open to slash at his chest with my Razor Shell, and I took it.

Suddenly, the Dewott quickly back flipped further away before my attack could hit him, but instead of him charging up another attack or readying his scalchops aside deactivating both Razor Shells.

"Never expected you to be this strong, Zack, I guess you are growing up then." The Dewott chuckled, crossing him arms after returning his scalchop on his hip. "Whatever Shiny Latias wants with you it'll either end good for me with you suffering as much as I had, maybe perhaps worse, I can die happily if that'll be your fate. Or maybe it'll be pretty much eh if this plan doesn't work out well for her. But know this Zack, we will meet again sooner than you think, and next time I will kill you." the Dewott smirked and raised his paw up. "See you some other time, brother!" Something flew past above my head and dove down at the Dewott at an incredibly fast speed leaving behind a red blur only slowing down when it had picked up the Dewott. It was Nathaniel grabbing the Dewott's extended arm with his talons and quickly just as he appeared flew up high until they were both out of sight.

I was lucky to come out of that unscathed, well slightly. a cut here and there a Potion can fix up. I stood there looking up at the sky where the two Pokemon escaped to leaving me confused at what the Dewott meant. "Brother? What did he mean by that?" I had no brother, only a sister. Before I was adopted, I did have a sister named Alison, but after reading the file I was given from the Savior's about my family, it said all members of my family were dead. Was he referring to me as a brother because we have the Doom serum inside us? Some kind of… Team Doom thing that they refer to each other as there 'brother'? I chose to ignore it not thinking about it anymore and instead focus on gathering the others to regroup at the center to plan our next move. We would have to leave the city, restock on our supplies, and prepare ourselves before the upcoming battle against Doom.

To be continued...

* * *

**Trivia:**

Drake the mafia boss first appeared in the first story, he would have made an appearance in this chapter but he was in no way a threat to Zack and his friends. It was more like a cameo than anything plot related. So this was cut from the story for a later chapter in the future.


	21. Chapter 21 Eon in Love

**AN: After planning the story for the past several months I have finally entered that part I dared not enter too much on; by creating a filler chapter until the story picks up again! So anyway, here's this chapter I just randomly thought up before moving on. Thanks for reading guys, and enjoy.**

Chapter 21 - Eon in Love

* * *

****

**Route 06 – Espeon's POV**

Zackary mentioned earlier today that he encountered another Dewott, a gray Dewott and of course a Doom member. The two fought each other for a small time until the coward with the assistance of that disgusting Pidgeot Nathaniel came in and swooped down and carried the Dewott off somewhere. We were surprised how the Dewott first entered the city in the first place, and how he got past our patrol. Seven of us scattered throughout the city and not one saw anything suspicious. Perhaps the Dewott was hidden away by a human/Doom member inside a Pokeball? Or maybe the Dewott was good at stealth?

Zackary was alright in the end of the fight and suggested to all of us that we should leave the city now. Who was to say how many more Doom members were already inside the city ready to strike? So it was better to move on and away from the city and its people before anyone else was hurt.

"So these idiotic wannabe Doom guys actually want to be Doom guy?… yeah, good luck with that one buddies. Cause if the real one was within one mile distance between you, running, arming yourself up to the max, or praying ain't gonna cut it. You'd be dead like seriously brutality dead." I scoffed, shaking my head after walking a little further on ahead of the group. "Imitating something else ain't exactly gonna cut it. Yare yare daze… What the heck is this? Too many references in the same chapter! Gasp! Somebody stop me."

And then for no reason at all, Shiny Latias and her cronies all appeared at once looking all drunk and stupid as usual. Me the strongest out of all of them tagging along with Zackary and friends defeated them and saved the world once and for all.

Okay, okay. That entire section wasn't how that thing went down one hundred percent, but I was thinking about it at the time. Can't believe I am telling my life half to the readers and the other half to these legendary bastards holding Latias hostage. Kind of wished Latias was here so she could actually tell this and other parts with her own point of view to how this went- alright! I'll continue.

In reality all we did was walk ten minutes or so and stopped at a crosswalk with three different paths to take; right was towards the end of the route, up was in the direction of a tower or some ruin I believe, and the left was… I don't know much about what was in that direction, but I do remember seeing a barely readable sign 'War…gerous….W..ld…. Poke…. this…y' with multiple scents I caught up with my nose. Flying types, bug types, and more. The kind of scent I regularly picked up on during my time travelling with Zackary in the past, the kind I warned Zackary to stay away from if he didn't have any repels on him and not wanting to look for a battle or two.

"You know guys," Isaac spoke up after stopping us at the crosswalk. "This route, I was planning to start my search for the herb here. Thinking this place would be the best place to start off because of how massive this place is and how many flowers and fungi have been discovered here. Perhaps somewhere… I don't know, maybe I'll find at least something here." He turned to us and smiled. "Guys, after Doom has been dealt with, we'll defiantly come back here first and check this place out, you all in?" all nodded and agreed to help Isaac out on his herb search. I gotta say, it would be pretty weird seeing humans and Pokemon conversing together, fully understanding one another without the need of a translator or charades like Pokemon often used when communicating with humans. You had a dream Isaac, to share the gift with the rest of the world… sorry man.

And so we were on our way into route 06, the path which would take us to the end and onto the next city… a walk that would eventually last us almost three hours if memory serves me right about this particular route… or was it 07? And then it was to Chargestone Cave, how shocking… and then finally we'll arrive in Mistralton by nightfall and have our fill on Pizza, yummy!

But travelling around with Zackary (not saying it was annoying or anything Zackary, just adventurous.) we were sure to encounter the weirdo or two every landmark we come across, so there were at least one weirdo spying on us behind a tree while under 'hidden' mode. I say 'hidden' because he wasn't. His face was hidden behind a tree while the rest of his larger body was clearly seen.

What Pokemon was this so-called solid snake pro? Why it was a Latios watching us from when we first entered the route, then at the crosswalk, and now. I never made it clear to the Latios that i was aware of his presence or told the others that we were followed by a Latios. It clearly wasn't a member of Doom because of Shiny Latias, Nathaniel, and those Doom soldiers we saw in the Desert Resort I could pick up a strange scent… metallic, rubber or some sort, this Latias did not and had only a forest scent, similar to this routes scent, so I let him be and continued to ignore him, since he was in no way a threat to us… until yep, you guessed it… the weirdo like the others must interact with us, but in a way none of us expected.

Instead of the usual showing up in front of us and demanding something (fights or whatever) the Latios flew from behind the tree he was hiding behind, flew as fast as he could and grabbed Latias, pulling her with him into the bushes, but not before Latias waving her arms around to cling onto something to prevent the Latios from draggin her off to who knows where, her paw found its way landing directly around my tail, pulling me along with them at high speed with a little yelp. And hoo boy, did that hurt like a mother.

Past the sudden rush of the wind as I was pulled alongside Latias by a weirdo Latios, I could hear faintly the sound of Zackary's voice calling out to us in the distance. Trying all I could to stop the Latios' kidnapping, I tried to use any one of my moves that I could muster, but before I could even light a spark of energy from my forehead, everything went suddenly black…

* * *

Waking up to the feeling of my head pounding away wasn't exactly the best thing I'd say was the worst of the day already. I awoke in a small dark and dry cave covered in moss here and there. The entrance to the cave was hidden behind foliage hanging down in front of it, an excellent cover to conceal the cave to anyone passing by the route. I tried to move my paws, but I couldn't. Looking down at my beautiful body to see what was preventing me from moving I found myself tied up in rope around my hind legs, and forelegs around my back. "Oh wow, how am I ever going to break out of these ropes?" I sarcastically muttered to myself, rolling my eyes as to whoever was my captor must not know that I could just easily break out of these ropes with my moves in a heartbeat.

Looking to the side of me I saw Latias lying down beside me who was just coming to groaning and lifting up her paw to the side of her temples at the bump she had. Oh yeah, and she wasn't tied up. Why was I the only one? Who the heck was this captor?

"Oh, I see you are awake my rose!" Behind the hanging foliage a voice was heard before entered the Latios I noticed before, with a grin plastered on his face. "I'm sorry for tying up your friend. I didn't want anyone else spoiling this magical moment."

"W-where am i?" Latias groaned. Looking up and staring at the Latios before us. "Who are you?"

"Why you see my rose, for I am your savior!" He exclaimed with a bright but proud smile, placing his paws on his hips. "I saved you from those humans I did. I could see from the look in your beautiful amber eyes that you were in despair. As if you were crying out for a shinning white knight or blue and white in my case, to save the day and rescue you…" He then glanced down at me. "Oh yeah, and uh your friend tagged along. We'll dispose of her sooner or later. It'll depend on my mood later."

"Hey, fuck you bitch!" I angrily shot back, already hating this Latios. Latias shot back her own glare at the Latios but not before she untied me using her own claws to cut the rope. _"Good"_ I thought. I was ready for a fight. No one kidnaps me or my friends and gets away with this.

"I don't need rescuing. Those humans you saw, they're my friends, and we are on an important journey." She was calm, a common state to see Latias in, finding ways to talk her way out of things, to avoid conflict or unneeded bloodshed rarely showing aggression or violence. That was one of the things I liked about her. She wasn't no push over, letting people or Pokemon walk over her or her friends, she knew how to fight, so if this Latios wouldn't let us leave, then somebody in this stupid cave will have a really painful day.

The Latios shook his head and scoffed. "But of course you needed rescuing. Especially from the oddly colored Dewott travelling alongside you, there was an odd aura about him that spelled dangerous. And surely the kind like him would get someone as lovely as you, my pure rose hurt or worse. I can't have that. So I plucked you here away from the dangers of the world and here to my home." The Latios' smile widened as he moved closer towards Latias and gestured with his paw for Latias to hold his. "Would be willing to stay here with me? To abandon your journey to be safe here with me for as long as we both live." But Latias obviously didn't take his paw.

"No." Latias glare grew fiercer with fire in her eyes. I stood beside her and readied myself for Latias to make the first move, or if the Latios decided to fight. "I will not stay here with you! I want to travel with Zack and help him stop some very bad Pokemon that have done us wrong. She was… she was like a mother to me, and nothing is going to stop me from helping Zack. Not you or Team Doom!"

"Zack?" The Latios gasped. "Who is this Zack character you speak highly of? W-wait hold on a minute… is it that odd Dewott you are with? Why on earth are you travelling around with that freak of nature?" the Latios paused, his face quickly becoming white, his eyes widening in shock. "Don't tell me you are already smitten with that Dewott!?"

Latias nodded. "I am. Zack is my mate now and always, and nothing will ever change that. Now if you don't mind, we'll be leaving." But before we could even move closer towards the exit of the cave, the Latios stopped us, extending out his paws and shook his head.

"A Dewott and a Latias? As a couple? Are you out of your mind?" the Latios glared as a vein was now visible on his forehead. "A beautiful Latias such as yourself shouldn't even mingle with the common species. One which I might add that'll only live as long as a mere human. He'll eventually die of old age before you can even-"

"I said no!" Latias shouted at him, swiping his paw away with her own. But the Latios didn't react well to that; he glared at us, clenching his claw/finger things (someone needs to tell me what the heck they even are. I'm looking at you legendaries, ya bitches!) tight as his visible vein on his had begun to pulse… ewe. "I love Zack and only him. So let us go right now or we'll do whatever it takes for us to be free from you!" She said preparing herself with a Dragon Claw if the Latios didn't allow us to pass. I prepared myself to for a Confuse Ray directly at his stupid pulsating vein face. That thing was creepin' me out.

Then all of a sudden, the most unexpected thing happened to the Latios. I mentioned his weird pulsing vein, but what I never mentioned was that it was growing at an incredible rate. So incredible that all of the veins on his face appeared and did the same. The Latios' eyes grew red and then… Boom! His entire head exploded because of his rage built up inside him couldn't be unleashed. For he could not hurt the one he 'loved' and could never be with her. a tragic tale of a love that will never be… and then we found Shiny Latias outside the cave and K.O.d her and went on home to tell the tale of how we defeated Team Doom.

'Tell the truth' are you saying that I am lying about that? Haha, of course I was, dang it! What the heck? It was just a joke to lighten up this dark place. Gotta give the audience something to listen to instead of hearing about a veined up Latios angry about not having Latias as a mate. Besides, I liked that ending much better than in reality because he never even apologized for the kidnapping and almost giving me a concussion. And after all we had done for him… bitch!

**Espeon will not be telling her side of the story from now on. Now we'll go to something else that will provide us what exactly happened in the cave.**

Fuck you, you legendary bast-

* * *

****

**Latios' Cave – A Flower's Point of View**

Hello, I am a flower that has lived inside the Latios' cave for nearly a month now. And boy do I have a tale to tell you folks! You see I grew near the entrance of the cave providing me with sunlight and rain to keep me alive for as long as I could live, which in fact was five more minutes until the sudden appearance of Latios and his new friends

So I was eventually crushed under the weight of the Espeon as she was dragged by the Latios further into the cave. Me, between the Espeon's body and the hard rock ground of the cave floor to the point that my stem was shredded in half granting me a death sentence. But it was at least nice to talk to others and tell you all about my life before that. you see, I often talked to the Latios, although he speaks to me about finding love. But I can't exactly talk back, but I am a good listener.

I remember consoling him after he had a nightmare about people wearing patterned clothing, large red shoes, white faces and red noses chasing him around the forest wanting to him give something called a balloon hat.

Oh! And there was this one time I stared directly at the sun for two hours straight without thinking of the consequences in doing so. Then I watched the sky and imagined myself flying. *Scoff* could you even imagine that; a flying flower! Next thing you'll see is the sun turning blue. Is anyone here still listening to what I am saying? Because oh my gosh! I have tons of things to tell you about my life story about things I would like to do! The first is-

**The Flower will not tell another story again. Back to Espeon…**

* * *

****

**Latios' Cave – Espeon's POV again**

Thank you legendaries, I'll continue with the actual story without altering it in any way shape or form. Fifty percent of the time at least… So the Latios' instead of his head exploding because of his unreleased rage was instead tears, followed by sobbing that echoed the cave. I am not kidding on this one, truth be told; the Latios fell to the ground crying. His paws covering his face as the tears leaked from his eyes like a waterfall… and his vein still pulsated… again, ewe.

Latias lowered her Dragon Claw and levitated slowly towards him and asked. "Um, what's wrong?"

"What does it look like?" He sniffed. "I'm crying, alright! I have been here for years living alone trying to find a female that I could be with, but everyone turns me down!"

"Gee, I wonder why that is…" I sighed, walking up to the Latios. "You kidnap us or Latias since I was dragged out here by her, you try again and again for Latias to be your mate, even after finding out she already has one, and you were incredibly rude. And you're crying about being rejected? Geez, c'mon dude, at least stop your crying and get your mind back together."

"W-what do you mean?" He sniffed, looking up at me after whipping away his tears.

"You won't find love if you force other pokemon to be with you. Kidnapping won't work either. Listen; love, it takes time. You can't just force it upon others just because you think of them pretty or that they are perfect for you without even knowing them, it takes a strong connection between the both of you for anything to happen." I gestured with my paw at Latias first then at me. "Latias here doesn't love you, she already has someone she loves and wants to spend the rest of her life with Zackary. And I sure as hell don't like you, so don't even ask. You want something real, right? And not forced? Then change your ways, otherwise you'll hurt someone to the point of no return. Do you want that? That you are so clueless to see that you are hurting them?!" I shouted, pushing the Latios back with my paw.

The Latios glumly looked back down at the ground and shook his head. "Then cut this out! Abandon your kidnapping and forceful ways, unless you want to wish you were never born. Cause we know some powerful moves that'll leave your face not even your own mother will recognize."

"Alright, I promise I'll never do it again. It was my first time doing any of this, I swear I'll never try it again with anyone else, honest! I-it's just that I don't really know how to talk to the other females… I couldn't even talk to my best friend about this… I'm a disgrace…"

"Your friend?" Latias asked, wanting to know more about his friend I'm guessing. Not knowing where this would eventually lead us, since we are main characters and all, it was the fate of all main characters when a problem met us face to face… we would have to help.

"A Vaporeon I have known since I first moved here in this route several years ago. She and I have been best friends since, and I thought perhaps one day I could tell her how I felt about her… a-and I'm afraid… afraid that if I ask if she would be interested in me, she would say yes…"

"What's so scary about that?" I asked, raising my nonexistent eyebrow at him. "If she likes you and like her, what's stopping you then?"

The Latios sighed, a sad frown formed on his face. "Vaporeon's live as long as a human does, just like her other evolved forms. We are roughly the same age as each other, but Latios' or eons if you will can live for hundreds of years. So even if I did get into a relationship with her, when she would reach an old age, I would still be young, outliving her while I remained young for a long time without her." He looked up at Latias and said, "I saw you, a Latias in the route and thought… I don't know, I just wanted a companion who could live as long as I could. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, I was afraid of being alone."

"Is this Vaporeon with anyone? As in already having a mate?" I asked, he shook his head in response. "Why don't you ask her if she is interested in you if you like her? I know the lifespan of both you and Vaporeon is quite the gap, but why should that matter? If you loved her and she loved you, wouldn't it mean a lot to you years later long after she died of old age that you even had the chance to know her, to love her? maybe even have a loving family you could watch out for?"

The Latios sighed and stared at the ground a little more before turning his head up at us and nodded. "B-but, I don't know what to say to her…"

"We'll come with you if you want." She suggested with a smile.

"What?" Me and the Latios both said in unison. To which Latias nodded quickly and saying she would be happy to help.

"Are you really sure you want to help this guy?" I asked in a whisper into her ear, still staring at the Latios drying his eyes with his paw, looking a little bit happier than he was not a minute ago.

"If we don't, then what's stopping him from doing it again to another Pokemon? It's better to help him here before he does anything bad later." Latias then looked sadly at the Latios "Zack has… in the report about Team Doom members who have been injected with the Doom serum, it is said they have an extended lifespan of two hundred years. Like with the Vaporeon dying of old age when Latios is still young, I too will be young, having to live on without Zack. I'm glad we are together, the memories of our happy times together will forever be with me…"

* * *

****

**Route 06 – Lake**

The lake we arrived with help from Latios as he directed us from his cave through the southern side of the route almost near Driftveil City. a lake surrounded by tall trees and large spiral-like rock formations towering over the small lake which only had one Pokemon swimming in, one we were searching for; it was a Vaporeon swimming happily in the lake as she hummed an unfamiliar tune quietly to herself.

We were all hidden within the tall grass as Latios stared at Vaporeon nervous at even the thought on approaching her alone. He was shaking and twitching his claw/finger things or whatever, unsure what to do. I guess we would hav eto assist him on this one… good grief.

"Okay, the first thing you'll want to do is go over there and talk to her." I whispered close to the Latios as he jumped a little upon my approach.

"B-but what do I say?" He asked nervously, his voice almost breaking. "What do I start off with? How should I say it?"

"Well, you can start off with small talk. Something along the lines like; how swimming is coming along, learn any new neat tricks recently, how was your day, or maybe you have found something cool and new you have to share with someone. But try and be cool about it, don't be rushing into things or it may seem awkward…" yeah, I was in no way fit or form to be a professional relationship helper or whatever, I just go by on what I already know. I had hoped Latias would step in and join in on assisting me on our talk about this.

"So get in there, smile and just remember that Vaporeon is your friend and totally not a random stranger, so relax." The Latios seemed to relax at that, and his confidence seemed to improve before he levitated out of the tall grass and flew over to Vaporeon, while me and Latias watched how the Latios would do in this situation.

"Hi Latios! How was your day? I haven't seen you since yesterday, where have you been?"She asked as she jumped out of the water, all mermaid-like, or whatever again.

"Oh just… wandering around above the trees, seeing the sights." More like kidnapping Pokemon and forcing one of them to be his mate…! The Vaporeon smiled and sat next to Latios while cleaning herself with her tongue while Latios nervously watched with a blush present on his face.

"S-so uh, Vaporeon," Latios smiled nervously as Vaporeon turned her head towards Latios, her attention as now fully on Latios who smiled back at him. "How is the lake today?"

The Vaporeon smile widened at this and proceeded to tell him how the lake was. "The water feels great today. How about you come and join me on swimming? I know a lot of neat jumping out of water techniques I would love to show you."

"Um, V-Vaporeon? Uh… before uh, we… I need to tell you s-something important…" Yeah, he didn't listen about taking his time and to talk more. Eh, but who am I to talk when I have never been in a relationship. I just hope it would go well and not awkward, leading us back to a kidnapping Latios again… "Do you have a minute to uh…. to t-talk?" He asked, the Vaporeon, nods and listens to the next words that escaped the Latios' mouth. "Uh, d-do you think that maybe I don't know uh, you and I could um, uh, go t-t-together to get some food and… maybe we could enjoy o-ourselves by doing something fun together and uh…" the Latios grew more nervous the more he spoke, often struggling and stuttering in his speech. He even at one point looked back at us for some assistance, but he didn't need it.

"Latios," The Vaporeon smiled, blushing also. "Are you asking me out?" The Latios immediately hid his face with his paws covering most of his face but left his eyes peeking out through the gaps between his claw/fingers. He didn't respond, but the Vaporeon only giggled at his reaction and walked up close to him and placed a paw on his stomach and smiled. "You know, I am free this afternoon. If you'd like, maybe we could get ourselves some food? And maybe later we could watch the stars tonight? I hear they'll be out clearly tonight if you're interested."

The Latios slowly removed his paws away from his face and even slowly turned and looked directly at Vaporeon, his awkward smile turned into a relaxed one as he nodded. "I *ahem* I would like to go with you, Vaporeon. I really would."

We watched as the Vaporeon and the Latios paw in paw walk away back into the forest away from the path of the route. Latias was happy for them knowing that they would make a good couple, no matter how long or how little the other has left in this world. We never saw them again, heard rumors from passing travellers, or sightings of a Latios and Vaporeon seen together in the route. I guess that the both of them lived a happy quiet life together, something Latias wanted with Zackary. But Team Doom was in our way for that to even happen, it would be the only thing until that fateful day that changed everything…

* * *

We found Zackary and the others searching for us a little bit off the main path since we taken by the Latios.

"You two alright?" Zackary asked, examining our bodies ready with a Potion to check for any wounds we might've received because of that Latios before. We were fine and told Zackary what I and Latias had been through; encountering a love hungry Latios, helping him from being a kidnapper and forcing others into loving him, and a Vaporeon at a lake who the Latios was best friends with. So we helped the idiot Latios and the two Pokemon become a couple. All was well and we rested before returning to our main journey this time in search of Team Doom who we'll encounter again further up the route instead of encountering another filler chapter again.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

The Vaporeon was originally a Leafeon who could easily camouflage into the grass easily making Leafon tough to find, resulting in the trio to search for her. 

**AN: Yeah sure, a filler may be a filler, but I did plant an important section within the chapter that will come up again in future chapters. Chapter 22 may take some time to write up, but I'll see what I can do. Please leave a review and again thanks for reading. Until next time.**


	22. Chapter 22 To Chargestone Cave

Chapter 22 – To Chargestone Cave

* * *

****

**Route 06**

Night was the worst time to be travelling out here; wild Pokemon, sometimes thieves hidden behind trees or in tall bushes preparing to strike an unsuspecting victim, or a new thing for us to watch for; Team Doom.

After the attack with that gray Dewott in Driftveil City we had to leave, fearing Doom had infiltrated the city and was preparing to strike at any moment. So after gathering up our supplies, we went for it. We entered route 06 to get to Mistralton City as fast as we could, surely then we could rest up and figure out our next move. But the darkness of the night engulfed the route faster than we left the city. Either it was a stupid idea rushing into the route this late, or to risk another stay within the city until the early morning. Either way, we had to chance it. If Doom were this close to us, we had to leave. We believed we would be safer away from the city, and that Team Doom was still searching for us there rather than out here in the dark.

We moved quick and silently through the trees, a little bit off the main path to avoid unwanted detection from anyone that may be a threat to us. The last thing we needed were one or two people walking through to see us alerting others to our presence here. I mean, who knows if the people we do pass through this route would be just a random civilian walking by, could be a member of Doom pretending to be a civilian to find us. We couldn't stop; we had to push forward so we could reach the next city. Travelling through the forest wasn't an easy feat, especially not with us five running around in the dark. Faint rumbling could be heard up above us in the dark clouds, rain was approaching, that could be a good thing for us to help mask our movement through the route, or bad since it could hide our enemies as they lie in wait for our sudden approach. But we weren't going to take any chances, so running as fast as we could, as carefully as we could possibly be, we had to make our way through the route. But by running, carefully moving through the trees like a swift Jolteon came the time of need for us to rest at a small clearing with a few large enough rocks sticking out of the ground that helped conceal us from anyone that passed by.

Staying as low as we could huddle together behind the rocks for a moment of quick rest and to cool ourselves off with our bottles of water, a map of the western part of the Unova region laid out in front of me. After a quick examination of the map on this route from Driftveil to Chargestone Cave, the route was an hour long walking distance, and we ran for ten minutes straight, cutting multiple corners, taking many shortcuts cutting our time by a lot. We were almost to the halfway point of the route nearing Chargestone Cave, the fastest way to reach Mistralton City rather than taking the longer route on the main road, something which would add two more hours on our walk/run. A wide and open space and full of traffic, Doom would see us for sure if we did go that way, so it was Chargestone Cave we had to head next.

"Ya… know," Espeon panted in between each word as she drank more water from the bottle with her Psychic. "I… have been travelling… phew… quiet some time… n-now… battling thugs, idiot Pokemon gangs who took me captive believing me to be an Espeon princess or whatever during that story between 02 and 03, a spinoff that'll probably never be released to the public. Fought a god-like being named Infinite wanting to absorb the life energy of all life throughout multiple timelines to stay alive forever… and here I am already out of breath ready to collapse… oh boy! I should be in better shape for this…"

"I just hope we weren't followed by them. That they're still in Driftveil City right now searching for us there rather than out here." Sakura whispered as she carefully watched over the rock edge into the tree line dreading to see any signs of movement. She didn't want to fight Doom, neither anyone of us did. All of us were exhausted, tired, but we still continued on. "It's still out there. And to make things off; this place should be swarming with wild Pokemon, and yet we haven't encountered any."

"Well, there are surprisingly large amounts of wild Pokemon with territories here and there. Even if one would walk or in our case run/sneak through, no doubt any wild Pokemon would see to it that whoever entered their territory would do whatever it took for them to leave, storm or no storm." Isaac explained as he glanced up at the dark sky as more rumbling could be heard, only a bit more frequently. "We have passed many Pokemon territories, and yet not one approached us… either it would seem that something within this route is preventing the wild Pokemon from leaving their dens, or perhaps someone."

Latias peeked over the edges of the rock wall with Sakura for a brief moment before returning to stay by my side. "I can sense multiple Pokemon within the surrounding area, but no humans nearby."

"Well human or no human, it's not like the only Doom member species are just human." Espeon said before glugging the last remaining water from her bottle. "There's that red Pidgeot idiot, the gray Dewott idiot, and the white mew who too is also an idiot. Who knows how many other idiotic Doom members are like them out there, watching us. So let's be careful when we continue on. We need to stray away from Pokemon we pick up on."

"But what about Chargestone Cave?" Sakura asked, turning her attention away from the rock edge and towards Espeon and Isaac. "That place is full of wild Pokemon. wouldn't it be easier if we took the main road? That cave is very cramped and almost make-like, what if we get cornered by Doom in there?"

"It would take too long if we did take the main road, and it would be dangerous." I said, folding and returning the map back into our bag. "That road will leave us out in the open for anyone to see us. it would be quicker if we go in Chargestone Cave, and I don't think Doom would go in there, there are far too many wild Pokemon, and they don't take too kindly too new Pokemon who enter their cave."

"He's right." Espeon nodded in agreement. "When a new Pokemon enters another's territory, they see that as a challenge. And not only one wild Pokemon from a herd is involved, but almost the entire pack that would see to it the threat has been neutralized. And that cave is the wild Pokemon's home, they know it like the back of their paw, they know the turns, the things one should never do in a cave, they have the higher advantage when it comes to battling in a place they know best. So if a Doom Pokemon fought against those wild Pokemon inside the cave with those powers they have, I highly doubt they would win against the cave inhabitants. Cause after watching many documentaries about wild Pokemon and their territories, I know better not to attempt to claim ones territory without backup. So let's just enter the cave, walk calmly and not give any of the wild Pokemon to gang up on us and white us out, warping back to the last Pokemon center we rested at… because game logic!"

"Not to worry you guys!" Isaac smiled, pulling out three bottles out of his bag full of many more Potions and remedies that could assist us and our Pokemon for the entire duration of our search for Doom, perhaps even with a good few left over. "Because I got all of us covered for anything Chargestone Cave throws at us. I bought these back in Driftveil when Zack was training. Figured we should be as least prepared for an early leave, right?"

"Alright! Nice going Isaac!" Sakura cheered, clapping her hands a little at Isaac's preparations.

"Always thinking ahead Isaac, nice work!" Espeon smiled as she examined the bottles of potions. "This should be more than enough to handle anything that'll come our way!"

We were so confident then. Telling ourselves that we would make it out of this together unscathed and without lose, that everything would turn out well in the end. A plan for after Team Doom was defeated; help search for a rare herb, travel the world for fun rather than doing missions all my life. A dream on having a perfect life with Latias, maybe even having a family with her one day could become reality… but sometimes, things don't turn out like I wanted them to.

So the only thing we did before that fated day was to continue on further through route 06.

* * *

The rain was starting to fall, but only little droplets here and there increasing slowly as the time passed. The rain would fall hard soon, and we were just ten minutes away until we reached the Chargestone Cave.

But we ran into a problem, something we expected but not like this. After running all the way from where we last rested at, we stopped ten paces away from behind a fallen tree; it was our second resting area before we continued our run. Before anyone one of us could speak or ask for more water from their bottle, we heard voices. Kneeling down as low as we could and against the tree, we slowly but cautiously peeked through the branches still covered with leaves and saw who it was that was speaking on the other side. Seven men at an opening beside the main road of the route all spread out in two or three groups armed with either a rifle or handgun in hand. They were wearing the same armor we saw back in the Desert Resort, they were Team Doom.

"So are the rumors true?" Asked one of the Doom soldiers in the center of the small opening sitting down beside a small rock he used to store his weapons belt on. The young soldier voice sounded a lot younger than the other soldiers amongst the small group, a kid no older than fifteen within a team like Doom. _'Why was someone that young here?'_ I thought. I had no intentions of hurting anyone that young or killing anyone._ 'Shiny Latias must be desperate on looking for soldiers for her army.'_

"What rumors, kid?" Replied another, loading his rifle with bullets against a tree with two other soldiers while standing with their rifles.

"That zero-eight is said to be our target? Ya know, the one the boss strictly ordered us not to kill unless we wish to know what gutting feels like? Cause I _really _don't wanna find out."

"Zero-eight is something the boss wants us to keep away from. But friends and loved ones are up for grabs. So waste 'em." Said one of the soldiers, a more gravelly deeper voice than the other soldiers kneeling down just opposite him. "But know this; cause the thing we are about to face, just know that we are dying so that our family will live in a better world. And that is something I want for my kids." He holstered his weapon and pulled out and typed something in on a strange box-like device. What it was, we couldn't see from here.

"But, knowing zero-eights power… we'll end up dead… b-but I don't want to die…" the young soldier shook his head, dropping his handgun to the ground as he stood up attempting to dash right into the route to escape. "I don't want to be here any-" But before the man could even finish his sentence, the man with the gravelly voice quickly stood up and approached him and grabbed him by the neck, strangling him with one hand while pointing a gun at the young man's forehead with the other. The other soldiers stood there and watched as the gravelly voiced man aimed his weapon at the young soldier, none intervened or showed care.

"You signed up for this boy!" The gravelly voiced man forced the younger man back down with a swift kick against the back of his calves. "Your family gets paid a lot of cash for the job you signed up for, you knew the risks. So if you think you're gonna just throw in the towel, right here and now even after knowing all of our secrets about us, then you no longer will be seen as an ally to us, you become an enemy of Team Doom. Do you remember the slogan? 'Enemies of Team Doom shall die' enemies are people we despise and fight against for create something better, fight people like you who give up like a weak coward." The gravelly voiced man leaned in closer to the young soldier with a strict voice. "Are you a weak coward? Or do I have to show the boys here a fine example on what we do to deserters?"

The young soldier immediately shook his head. "Good. Now pick up your weapon and get back to your patrol duty with the others!" The gravelled voice man grunted, walking away from the group of soldiers towards a black truck parked off a little way off the main road behind large bushes.

One of the soldiers whistled and walked up to the young soldier with crossed arms. "I gotta admit, that was pretty reckless to be saying that in front of the captain like that." He asked helping the young soldier up, but not before the young soldier picked up his own weapon first. "Knowing the captain, he would've done it, shot you I mean. Because you see, a year back before you joined up, he was with three others on a mission to steal some materials the boss wanted. They got into a gunfight, the three panicked, didn't want to die in some wasteland, so they ran off. The captain fought off an entire squadron by himself if you can believe that; mechas, Pokemon of various types to assist, elite soldiers carrying heavy weaponry, and a tank according to a few rumors. And so after the mission, he ended up losing his hearing in his left ear, never forgave them for that, and so the captain hunted down the three who ran off and straight up killed them. So never say you want to quit in front of him again, as a joke or dare, unless you want to die." The young soldier again nodded, watching the other soldier walk away to patrol on the other side of the clearing.

"Zero eight?" Espeon whispered beside me, picking up on what the Doom soldiers were talking about. Ready for this 'zero eight' character. _'Maybe they mean me?'_ I thought _'And the others… waste them? Could it mean… they were going to kill my friends if we fought them?' _I didn't want it to be true. With my power and skill, I wasn't sure I would be ready to fight them. "They're obviously searching for someone? Maybe you Zackary? Kinda makes you wonder what that fat yellow bitch wants to do with you. But unfortunately for her, she won't get what she wants and will instead be beaten by yours truly."

Chargestone Cave was only ten more minutes ahead of us. So in order to do that we just had to sneak our way around the Doom camp and pray that there weren't any Doom soldiers further up. Once we reach the cave, we'll be alright… I hoped. A safe passage was all I was asking for…

Isaac gestured for us to follow as he found a trail which would lead us right around the Doom camp so we could continue on to the cave, something we or I mostly found a little scary and making me very nervous to do so being with how much the soldier's were all armed with so many weapons. The last we faced soldier's like these guys was like I mentioned before the Desert Resort within the old building of the hunters hideout, it was a small and had narrow corridors and rooms to fight in, barely getting out of there alive. But out here in the open, I feared that the soldier's would start firing their weapons at us on sight, we could defend the others and attack our enemy, but it would be most likely one of us would get seriously hurt or killed.

Luckily the trail we took around the camp was less occupied and watched providing us with great room to move from one fallen log or large bush to the other one at a time. Sakura and Isaac moved first one after the other, hiding behind each bush they approached, crouched down low as they waited until a soldier looking their way turned another way providing them with a chance to move on. Espeon wasn't a problem to sneak past them for how low she lowered herself to the ground while she crawled, even taking a risk to crawl through some tall grass in between the first large bush after the fallen tree we hid behind. The soldier watching in her direction didn't even notice her. But when it came to Latias to move around from the things we could hide behind, I was worried for her because of her size and wondered if the bushes and logs would be too small for her to hide behind.

"Latias," I whispered to her before making our next move to join with the others on the other side to move forward through the route. "Why don't you uh…" I thought if Latias could go back, she could find another way around so all of us could meet up at the Chargestone Cave. But splitting up exactly wasn't a good idea, who knows how many other Doom soldiers there were in this route already.

"Zack, don't worry I got this." She whispered as she levitated up off the ground, but low enough so her feathers just brushed the ground beneath her as she moved towards the first bush. Through the branches of the fallen tree, I noticed one of the soldiers looking directly at us as Latias began to move. Turning as fast as I could, I tried to stop Latias from moving, but to my surprise and sort of a '_oh!_' moment, Latias' entire body from head to tail vanished before me as she moved closer towards the others, cautiously but slowly not to attract any unwanted attention. I had almost forgotten she could that. It was a rare thing for her to do, even out in the public, and almost never on past missions I had with the Saviors… could've really saved me some time and many unwanted battles in the past if I had remembered she could do that… so in her words, she favors to be seen rather than hidden, wanting to be a part of society and carrying me over to ice cream parlors and gift shops searching nonstop for a Super Latias toy or game, unlike most eon Pokemon do.

Latias appeared to the others on the other side and were now waiting for me to join them. Leaving from behind the tree was annoying because of the soldier was just staring right in the direction of the bush I wanted to get to. Espeon looked at the soldier too and moved a small rock up to her face and gestured to me if I wanted her to throw it elsewhere to distract him. I shook my head. I didn't want the soldiers alerted over hearing something in the distance. Better to sneak through without sound or detection, it would be better off and safer. The soldier turned his head as another soldier approached him alerting him of 'Target had already left the city. Need orders to deploy the drones.' While he was distracted, I took this as my opportune moment to make my way for the first bush. I made it, but the soldier was still talking to the other one, no other soldiers were looking in my direction, so it was safe to go and head towards the fallen log, but when I had reached the halfway point, one of the soldiers standing beside the truck looked my way. At a last effort to conceal myself, I dived with all of my strength to reach the log and hide behind it hoping the soldier didn't see me… "Is something over there?" The soldier asked, the two soldiers first looked at the soldier beside the truck and then at the fallen log. Everything went silent, the only thing I could hear was my heart beating, everything felt as though time slowed to a halt, anxiously waiting for them either to move along, or to investigate… something I feared, not seeing any other way to get out of this without being detected, I was trapped here.

From the other side of the log, I could hear multiple footsteps approach; I stayed as low as I could with a scalchop in paw ready to strike if I must. _'Run'_ was what I was thinking in the moment._ 'Run deeper into the forest and hide. I could what I could to slow them down while the others escaped…'_ I didn't want them to get hurt. Looking up towards them, I saw them stare right back at me. I would use this log and push them back, use my moves to fight them off while the others escaped. I just needed to hear the words 'enemy sighted' or something other than that… then hope we all come out of this alive and well…

"Just the wind. See, just a large leaf is all." One of the soldiers shrugged as a powerful gust of wind blew past us causing a very large leaf to blow further into the camp. "Lousy weather. Wind is picking up, must be a storm coming in soon!" And they walked back… we were safe.

Sakura peaked through the bushes and carefully watched the soldiers, she gave the signal for me to come over, none of the soldiers were looking in this direction and I quickly joined them so we could continue on together.

We took cover behind another Team Doom truck just ten paces away from the camp because of one problem to get past; there was a soldier just on the other side leaning against the trunk of the truck staring in the direction of where we needed to go. The soldier then leaned his back against it, but we couldn't move just yet, we needed him gone. Distraction wasn't an option; we needed him to move by himself.

"Ah, stupid kid. The heck he even out here for if his mind is all second thought this and that? Good grief!" The gravelly voice man grumbled to himself while leaning on the side of the truck, joined by another soldier.

"He's only a kid, mate. He just needs one or two outings on the field and his mind will be sorted." The other soldier chuckled. "Most of us were all like this; scared, unsure if what we were doing was worth it. But after a short while we were all on track to do anything for Team Doom."

"Hah!" The gravelly voiced soldier laughed. "I'll believe it when I see it. It'll take more than one or two outings out on the field for them to change that quickly. Believe me, it's takes more than that."

Slowly we crouched away from the truck and further into the forest hiding behind the trees without the other soldiers from noticing us.

But we weren't out of the woods yet, we had to be cautious. The last remaining distance between here near the Doom camp and the Chargestone cave. A ten minute trek with who knows how many Doom soldiers and traps lie in wait for us.

I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that we didn't see any other Doom soldier further up the route. That the soldiers at the camp were probably a decoy or a dummy unit while the real soldiers were out here hidden somewhere, waiting for us for the right moment to strike. I would've figured they would at least have more soldiers searching the route.

Suddenly, a strange whirring sound was heard the more we passed each bush and tree, but with the wind and the storm approaching, I assumed it was just the wind blowing something or maybe a lamp was causing that noise from how close we were to the road, but it wasn't. Before when I was hidden behind the log as the soldier approached it, I overheard them talk about 'the target is not within the city anymore' and 'wanted to use drone' then I realized that I had heard that noise before, it was the same noise I heard from the drones we fought against when we were at the hunters old base. "Guys, drones!" I quickly alerted them, holding a scalchop in my paw as three drones suddenly emerged from the trees.

Sakura and Isaac were quickly protected against the drones attack by Latias as she used a massive Protect, shielding both her and them while me and Espeon attacked.

Like before, the drones shot the same blue pellets at us with the same effects as the ones from the old hunters' base which weakened a Pokemon gaining more effective with each shot. Espeon darted to the side gaining the attention of two of them while the other targeted me. The first two blue pellets hit me on the chest and on the arm. When it made the third shot at me, I grabbed it with my Psychic and threw it back at the drones camera blinding it allowing me the perfect chance to strike at it with my Razor Shell, but the drone flew upwards, but it was still in range for my Psychic to reach it and crush it before it could leave. Focusing on the drone above me, I successfully grabbed it with my Psychic and crushed it with all of my power, destroying it for good. But then I was suddenly hit with a barrage of blue pellets by one of the drones, the last drone still active after Espeon pushed it forcefully with her Psychic against a tree, smashing it to pieces beyond repair.

With each blue pellet that hit me, the more I felt weaker and weaker; almost collapsing as the effects of the pellets almost took hold, the drone moved in to fire more blue pellets at me. But it stopped firing when Espeon grabbed it with her Psychic and threw it against another tree close to the destroyed drone. Destroying that one for good.

Latias stopped using Protect and quickly levitated over to me and help me up, still covered in blue powder from the pellets shot at me by the drones. The front of me was almost completely covered in blue powder, almost making me look like a regular blue Dewott. But the effects of the powder despite multiple Potion consumption still persisted. I just had to wash this powder off of me, and quickly if there were more Doom soldiers and drones up ahead.

Suddenly, behind us we heard running. Again, we hid behind one of the large bushes to conceal ourselves as four Doom soldiers appeared to investigate the noise. "The drones are damaged. Man how did this happen?" One of the soldiers asked as he examined the drone I had crushed with my Psychic before.

"They hit the trees here…" one of the other soldiers approached the two drones beside the tree. "Malfunctioned do you think?" Then a powerful gust of wind approached almost pushing the soldier off his feet.

"It's this freaking storm!" Grunted one of the other soldiers. "C'mon, let's just get back to the others, we'll search the south side of the route. Be back home before the storm gets worse." The soldiers quickly rejoined and left where they came from, we were safe.

After that, we didn't encounter anymore drones or Doom soldiers within route 06 allowing us some relief. I was weakened by the drones, so I had to be carried by Latias, not caring how the blue powder already on my fur was brushed up against her own feathers leaving patches of blue here and there. She was a little affected by the powders weakening, but she didn't care and was just as happy to be carrying me for the remainder of our walk to the cave.

After for what seemed like hours, we had finally made it at the Chargestone Cave, a place thankfully was not full of Team Doom soldiers and human turned Pokemon waiting for us inside for an ambush. Instead, we had to deal with the wild Pokemon that resides within.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Notes on Doom Serum:**

Security Level.05 Max

Scientists involved 18

Starting date:July 02 2013

Created serum no.08 on:August 10 2019

Progress of Doom Serum:Completed (15 total vials were created. 8 uses reported. Six remain in (Text Deleted)01 is declared missing.)

The Doom serum can alter a humans appearance to change into a Pokemon. The human that changes into a Pokemon has different colors, abilities and moves that a regular Pokemon could never learn or obtain without the help of the Doom serum. A changed human is known as a numbered Doom member within a team of other humans changed, that team is called Team Doom. A human changed to a Pokemon spends 2 weeks in a coma like state while their body alters from size to new body parts like tails and an extra limb. The Doom member changed wakes up in agonising pain all over the body, this effect lasts for 2-4 days. It seems that with medicine trying to null the pain did no effect, even trying to make the Doom member sleep was still unaffected. Also, all Doom members eyes change, their scalera is now a pitch black and their iris' range from different colors such as red, green, purple to yellow with pupils a darker color than their new iris'.

Doom members who have turned into Pokemon can mate with other Pokemon and give birth to offspring but the offspring will not inherit any abilities from the Doom parent (Further research still in progress to determine whether or not this statement is true or false). Out of all humans chosen to become Doom leaders (based on skills not fitness) no human that has gone through the change has died so far. The scientists at TA (Team Annihilation) have begun to develop more Serums than 08. We are now creating 04 new batches of the Doom serum immediately.

Further Note: Team Doom number members ended with 08. 08 if the reports are correct is said to be uncontrollable yet powerful should one learn to control this power. It is something the boss wants to use herself, something so remarkably power yet dangerous. It has something to do when it comes to battling other Pokemon, 08 does something to them after defeat. Reports say he has yet to engage in combat with Pokemon and defeat them. And Shiny Latias is doing all she can to push 08 into combat with other Pokemon, particularly other numbered members of Doom.

**Harry's notes:**

When speaking to Cornelius about the change, he said that his eyes and entire body felt like as if it were on fire and tried multiple times to claw off his flesh. Thanks to the restraints at the time, Cornelius couldn't do anything and remained screaming for approximately 7 hours… then laughing… then howling like a madman. He did something like this before, but never at this level, I fear for anyone who crosses him.

**Final Note by Doctor Janine Sullivan:**

Pokemon who have used the Doom serum on themselves results in failure of that Pokemon learning or using a move they cannot. They cannot speak human language or change appearances. So what it means is that any Pokemon whoever uses the Doom serum doesn't change in anyway or form. The boss once used the serum on herself before Cornelius changed against warnings that the serum may not work or may in fact kill her… but it did nothing to her, or so we thought at first. Ever since she injected herself with the serum, she has been acting… confident around many dangerous people and Pokemon without little concern over her safety. She looks into their eyes, eyes that would put fear into others, and gives them a command and they follow them without question. Also something to point out about her, her eyes are showing more veins, her paws and claws are disintegrating, some of her color is fading a little underneath the wings. And she is weaker psychically, barely eating, sleeping only three to four hours per day. I even asked as her doctor to rest, but she always smiles and says the same thing every time 'Zack is coming. I can almost taste his blood.'

File End.


	23. Chapter 23 Rock, Electric, and Poison

Chapter 23 – Rock, Electric, and Poison Types

* * *

****

**Chargestone Cave**

Still weakened by the effects of the blue pellets shot at me by the drones left me almost completely covered up in blue powder clinging onto my fur, it was something which was annoyingly hard to brush off without the help of water to wash it off. I know I am part water type and had a water move of my own, but I was still too weak to use any move in my condition, so I had to stay like this until we got to Mistralton city and got myself a nice shower. No matter how many Potions I used or different types of antidotes and remedies to cure this blue power draining effect it gave me constantly, like a poison draining me of my health and energy with each passing second. It wasn't deadly, that I found out through research from Dr Guard from the Savior's after giving samples to him after the first drone attack at the hunters base. Something in the blue power weakened the host until their energy and health were low, gaining efficiency with each added shot quickening the effect. Surprisingly enough, the only cure against the blue power was ordinary water. I wasn't sure why, but to cure it all you had to do was just wash the damn stuff off until it was gone.

It was also revealed that each drone Team Doom had installed a stun gun fitted inside them, so it was possible after the drones shot and weakened their victims they would attack with their stun guns to immobilize and capture them. I couldn't even imagine what would've happen if those drones did catch us and sent us back to Shiny Latias…

We were finally inside the Chargestone cave. Just a quick walk through this cave and we'll end up just right outside Mistralton City to rest up for the night, or two depending on how long the effects of the powder persists long after taking a couple of showers to wash the damn stuff off me.

The cave was kind of dark, no flashlights or no sunlight peeking in through the walls or cave ceiling, but thankfully our source of light was because of the strange multiple floating rocks here and there emitting an electric blue glow throughout the entire cave once approached would send the hairs or fur standing up, something which seemingly excited Espeon so much she touched the floating rock and laughed as her fur stood up.

"Espeon, c'mon we have to get going. Zack needs to get that blue stuff off him as soon as possible-"Latias levitated up to her and lightly patted her on the back with her paw to draw her attention away from the floating rock so we could continue through the caves. But being this close to the floating rock had also affected Latias as her feathers at her paw to stick up slightly… and of course Latias was drawn into the floating rock strangely laughing as their fur and feathers stuck up with us watching at their… odd antics. Their laughter echoed through the entrance part of the cave, even drowning out sound I just only now had picked up echo from further into the cave.

"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed surprisingly loud at what she heard. Pointing over at the only other way where we could advance further inside. "I just heard a Zubat! I like Zubat's they're so cute!"

"Eh, they're fine if you bring a repel with you. Otherwise it's a five step encounter after each battle/escape…" Espeon sighed as she walked away from the floating rock and ahead of us to investigate the noise we heard with Latias and us shortly following behind.

To Sakura, she only heard the usual screech one would recognize from a Zubat, but to me, all I heard was someone shouting something, 'Traitor!' out loud, nothing I picked that sounded like a Zubat. It was a high pitch voice, but nothing that sounded like one.

The more we walked further down into the cave, the louder the 'Zubat's' voice was, picking up more on what the voice was saying 'You were the one who caused this!' 'A danger to us all' 'You should leave now!' all anger in those words, followed by more voices one after the other, some similar than the first voice, others a lower pitch, gruffer voices all arguing with one another.

Then the noise we heard at the entrance was now revealed to be an argument between not people but Pokemon of different types; Poison, Rock and Thunder. To Sakura, all she heard were different Pokemon screeching and barking at one another, but what the others and I heard were things like 'You and your types caused all of this!' 'You should be banished!' all over again, until one by one they suddenly stopped as they turned directly at us, noticed they were being watched by humans and Pokemon not native to this area.

"Oh, sending some special reinforcements are we?" Spat a Boldore towards a Zubat fluttering down low in front of the Boldore with a nasty glare I never thought possible with them. "Humans with their Pokemon, huh? Trying to get them to catch us all so you could take this cave as your own? A cave my ancestors lived in for hundreds of years for it be handed over to the likes of you Poison types? Over my dead body!"

"If that's what'll take!" The Zubat spat, flapping its wings aggressively and widening its mouth wide readying its fangs, as well as the other Poison types behind it preparing to strike the rock/ground types gathered behind the Boldore. But before the two types could engage in battle with the other, a Voltorb rolled over in between the two backed up with more electric types behind it carefully watching the two clans should they decide to draw first blood.

"Now, now, I suggest we all put our arguments aside until we figure out why exactly there are humans here with their Pokemon." The Voltorb suggested, glancing back and forth between the two. He then glanced up at us. "If they are reinforcements, then things… may turn into a unsettling outcome. But if they are not, then we continue on what clan shall own the caves. Until then, a temporary ceasefire." The Boldore and the Zubat glared once more at one another before huffing and turning away back to their own sides of the cave with their clan.

The Voltorb and the rest of the electric types cautiously approached us, glancing first at Sakura and Isaac, then at Latias, Espeon and me. "Why are you here?" He asked in a demanding voice, sparks igniting from his cheeks.

"We are just passing through this cave to get to the city on the other side." I was the first to speak up, trying to show them that we don't mean them any harm. Thinking that maybe they would leave us alone and allow us to pass without sparking any sort of trouble for them.

"Why not turn around and go the other way? Walk around the mountain by the road instead of entering the caves?" He asked, still glaring and adding more sparks of electricity through his cheeks. Other electric types behind him did the same, charging up moves of their own aiming at us all.

"It's quicker this way to get to the city. We are all exhausted and tired; we're not here to cause any problem for you or anyone else." The Voltorb stared at me for a moment, reading my face as if he were seeing if I were telling the truth or not. He glanced up and down at Espeon first, Latias second, Sakura third and finally Isaac before turning back at me and the electricity from his cheeks faded.

"I suggest you leave the cave and go around. Because we Pokemon of the clans; Electric, Poison, and Rock have come to a conclusion; whichever clan succeeds, they shall own this cave for their own. We are about to battle each other for ownership, so I suggest you all leave should you wish not to be caught in the crossfire." The Voltorb said before nodding to the other electric types behind him to return back to their own side of the cave with the others to prepare for their upcoming battle.

"Hey wait a minute!" Espeon walked up to the Voltorb with an angry teeth glare, not caring that some electric types were preparing to strike. "I get it that the three clans are getting into a battle for some reason soon, but why can't we just go on through and let you three duke it out? The exit is right over there." Espeon said pointing over to the only tunnel of the cave at the far end which would eventually lead us to the exit of the cave. But the Voltorb shook his head.

"Before the upcoming battle, all three clans agreed together that everyone and anyone of different species could come and go anytime they pleased. So much as they do not disturb us, otherwise we'll attack. But right now, the rock type Boldore over there-" The Voltorb glanced back at the Boldore and the other rock types blocked the tunnel were Mistralton was on the other side. "-he has refused anyone from proceeding further into our battle zone; the entire cave is our battle zone. And we want no one from the outside from interfering with our battle. So like I said before and I'll say it again in case you forgot; turn back, leave, and go around the mountain!" The Voltorb rolled back to the other electric types leaving us there, watching as the three clans prepare for an oncoming battle. We couldn't go back, not through the road around the mountain, Team Doom could be there waiting for us. And in my condition with this blue powder stuff all over me making me feel weaker by the second, I wouldn't be able to do anything to protect them or fight Doom. I was worried Team Doom's human turned Pokemon would be there on the road, too many for Sakura, Isaac and their Pokemon to take on… they weren't fighters… they would had no chance against them.

There had to be a way for us to get through this cave to Mistralton City, there just had to be.

* * *

With the others now returning to the entrance of the cave to either wait out the storm that was happening outside or… until the Pokemon within the cave had decided on a winner, I however stayed behind to try and talk to them so we could safely pass through the cave without the Pokemon attacking us. Originally, I had no intention on stopping the three Pokemon from fighting one another, but the more I spoke to each clan leader to try and get through to the other side of the cave, the more I delved into actually wanting to help them put a stop to the fighting.

"We have lived here for nearly a good two-hundred years side by side the rock and electric types without the thought of all of us starting a battle over control of the cave." The Zubat leader said with a long sigh as he sat parched on a rock amongst other poison types. The poison clan were the first of the three clans to speak to. Work my way up to the electric clan, then rock, and then back to poison again to find something I could use to get through to them to let us pass. "My father was a great friend with the rock clan leader's father, helped unite the three and become allies. Said he believed the clans could stick together forever if we stood side by side one another… never thought the clans would fight us after everything we have been through…"

"So, what started this fighting then?" I asked, trying to find something to help us from leaving this place through the tunnel we wanted to go through, rather than around the mountain. "If your clan were once allies with the other two clans, what started this dispute between one another? What went wrong?"

"Recently, the electric and rock types approached us together and blamed us for poisoning their loved ones. Those electric morons called us poisonous traitors since they believe we intentionally hurt them!" The Gulpin said bitterly, while staring at the electric clan on the other side of the cave. "All we ever do is stay on our side of the cave, live our lives as we usually do, talk to one another like regular Pokemon. But have we ever harmed another non-wild Pokemon living within the cave? I can safely say this; not on Arceus' life we haven't. We would never dream of harming another living amongst us here within this cave."

"Is it possible someone from your clan may have got into a fight before, had an argument with someone else from another clan and accidentally poisoned the other? I'm not accusing you or your clan of harming another. I'm just saying; is it possible that could happen?" I asked. The Gulpin shook its head along with the other poison types.

"We poison types are not as hot headed as those rock type fools. Always bashing heads against one another to prove who is strongest." A Ferroseed spoke up as it approached the Gulpin. "We know better not to attack another Pokemon from any clan knowing the effects of what our Pokemon can do. We live side by side one another as allies, so why should we decide one day to become enemies? Unless they are greedy that is, and want the cave for only themselves, so I am defiantly blaming those hot headed rock types on that one."

"Yup," An Ekans slithered up besides the Gulping, nodding. "Those rock types and their annoyingly head bashing against themselves and the walls from time to time can cause some parts of the cave to shake. If anything, those fools must've done something, I don't know… upset a deity or ghost within the deepest parts of the caves, punishing all of us because of those rock type fools!"

* * *

"Bashing our heads against another and at rock walls? Are they kidding?" The Boldore laughed "Those morons will come up with any excuse they think of to try and avoid punishment. They are the cause of all of the problems that have happened recently. Poisoning our water supply, how low can you get… We all drink from that, not sure why the poison type morons are poisoning their own water supply, it's the only one we got here… again, morons!"

"You say the poison types poisoned the water supply?" I asked, glancing back over at the stream of water which flowed from a small opening large enough for me to fit through if I crawled, and near to the electric clans side of the cave. "What happened to make you think it were them?"

"An electric type not long ago suggested we make more tunnels, deeper sections to expand our clans for the cave and not this close towards the entrance." The Boldore moved up a little facing the poison clan, all preparing for the fight soon to start, as well as the rock clan and the electric clan. "Many of us agreed with the expansion, but the poisons didn't. They suggested we should all stay near the water should some other new clan move in and steal it for their own. Then soon after, the young from both mine and the electric clans drank from the stream… since then, all we could do was keep them rested until the poison cures. Poisoning younglings, I would never stoop so low to poison anyone that young… vile things!"

"But why are the electric clans fighting against you? I thought both of the clans hated the poison types?"

"Electric types are powerless against us rock types, wouldn't do much to us, as with poison types. But they assume like with the moron poison types that we also did something to poison the water supply. But not by bashing our heads together nor against the cave walls upsetting a deity or a ghost, we did no such thing!" The Boldore laughed. "Why do you ask these things, Dewott? Are you trying to persuade us on letting you and your human and Pokemon friends through these caves? I'm afraid we'll have to say no until the battle for control over this cave comes to an end. Which is a battle I believe will last longer than walking around the mountain. We do not want others to interfere, so why not leave before you get yourselves hurt or killed."

* * *

"Of course they are idiots, my little jolty. No disagreement on that one!" The Voltorb smiled as he affectionately rubbed his cheek against the Joltik sitting beside him. The two spoke to one another affectionately a lot like that when I was with them. Complimenting and rubbing their cheeks together after agreeing with each other on comments about how traitorous and vile the other clan were.

"And soon, they'll know how it when they face us in battle…" The Joltik sang as she giggled at his touch.

"Hah, couldn't have said it any better, Jolty." The Voltorb smile grew brighter. "It's not like those poison types will do much in battle other than inflict all kinds of ailments on us. First wave will see to that while we use ranged attacks on them and focus on the rock types. So no, I do not believe we'll ever come to an agreement to withhold the battle for you and your allies to casually walk through the cave before the fight. You can either wait by the entrance, go around the cave, but do not get in our way!" The Voltorb angrily shot a glare at me as he turned to face me. "How ridiculous, talk it out between ourselves. See, this is why I detest water types, they all try to talk it out first instead of looking at the facts first; poison types are as vile as they come. I knew it was those poison idiots that contaminated the water, poisoned our younglings!"

I backed off away from the Voltorb as his cheeks began to spark a few volts of electricity. Had then spoken to the poison types again, then the rock types and then finally the electric types hoping to use whatever information I had to find a way so me and my friends could move through the cave. I had spoken to all three leaders of each respective clan, tried multiple times to get through to them to let us pass, but I couldn't. Not showing any care that we were being hunted by people who wanted to hurt or kill us, they just told me and my friends to wait for the battle to end or go around. Waiting could mean an ambush by Team Doom, and going around could mean the same as the other.

Sitting down by the side of the stream, watching the water flow by before I returned to the others and wait it out for the three clans to finish their fighting, the more I grew worried about the waiting, about the Doom soldiers I knew were still out there still searching for us. What if they would enter this cave and find us while we wait for the Pokemon to stop fighting? Without a doubt, the sounds from the fighting at the cave with this many Pokemon would attract attention from anyone outside.

"Be warned, Dewott. Should you become thirsty, you must find another place to quench ones thirst, because the only thing you shall ever find from drinking from this stream is not satisfaction, but something which may take your life, a poisoned stream." The elderly female Emolga said as she sat down beside me, watching the water flow. I didn't remember seeing an Emolga within the cave or with the other electric types behind the Voltorb when we first entered. In fact, I didn't even notice any other Emolga's with the electric clan. "And to think, the fighting was caused by this. Why do you stay, Dewott? Why do you need to go through the cave? Wouldn't it be better and fresher than to be out there with the clean air than stay in this dry old cave? Waiting around for the battling to stop may take its toll on you or your friends could become injured by their fighting."

"We need to go through the cave." I said, resting my head on my paws, elbows leaning on my legs. Tired and frustrated on staying here. "Out there, there are people, humans who are after us, trying to hurt us, kill us. I just want them to be safe. Going out there in my condition, I won't be able to protect them, let alone do anything. If we stay here until the battle ends, then we can move on and rest up at the city. I don't want to take the risk."

The Emolga nodded. "Perhaps waiting around isn't something you should be doing." She suggested, glancing over at where the water came from. "Maybe something is doing this to the water? Something in that small opening over there is what is causing all of this unnecessary argument with the three clans, a misunderstanding. Something caused by another party."

I turned my head up at the small opening, examining the water as it flowed down the stream. "What do you mean? Do you know something?" I asked, still looking at the opening.

"It may be something that'll help you and your friends get through the caves, and perhaps more that'll make things better. You should investigate, unless you want Team Doom to find you, Zack Raines." Immediately, I stood up, grabbed my scalchop and turned towards the Emolga as fast as I could, only to find her suddenly gone. My heart was beating fast as I searched for wherever the Emolga must've ran off to, but I couldn't see her anywhere I looked. How did the Emolga know my name, full name to be exact? Neither one of us even mentioned my full name when we first entered the cave, so how did she know? Was she a human turned Pokemon Team Doom member? Why didn't she attack if she was one? How did they know I was here? Questions I had asked myself, all without answers.

I felt her presence even after I stood up preparing to use my scalchop, to see her now vanished baffled me asking myself where was she, and how did she move that fast. Then I heard the other electric types behind me, muttering something along the lines like 'The heck is the matter with the Dewott?' 'I can him talk to himself. Must've drunk some of the water...' Talking to myself? But I wasn't, I know the Emolga was there. 'I didn't sense any hostility or any signs of her about to attack…' I thought to myself, glancing back at the small opening again. 'Is there really something in there?'

It was a risk. To trust an Emolga the others couldn't see, saying that I was talking to myself. Or perhaps the stream was poisonous and I must've inhaled some of the fumes somehow? But as I looked up at the small opening, I felt a presence from within, it was weak in strength, but something or someone was in there.

So without returning to the others to tell them about that Emolga I just met and vanished before suggesting I investigate the small opening of the stream, I walked up to it and crawled inside to investigate the weak presence on my own. Yeah, I know, an Emolga knowing your full name without you telling it who you are and suggesting to you to enter a small opening of a stream saying it could help you may not have been the wisest of choices and something which would very well lead to death by ambush or get myself trapped by the enemy, I wasn't thinking much, more curious than anxious I guess.

* * *

Inside the small tunnel I crawled through without gaining any unwanted attention from both of the clans. All of them were too caught up on preparing for battle than to notice a Dewott from approaching a poisoned stream. I must've crawled for a good while until I found a larger space for me to crouch through instead of getting on my stomach. Looking back at the crawl space for a brief moment, I heard something in front of me. Turning my head as fast as I could, there in front of me was the elderly Emolga again. But I didn't hesitate, with the last ounce of strength I could muster; I focused all of my energy to grab hold of the Emolga holding her in place. But to my shock, my Psychic did not grab onto the Emolga, it didn't grab anything, like nothing was there. I also noticed that the floating blue rock next to us casted a dim shadow for me, but not the Emolga. Reaching out my paw at her arm, I didn't touch anything, it just phased through her.

"Hello Zack. So you came here after all." She smiled. Ignoring how I was pushing my arm through her body, like she was a ghost or something.

"W-what are you?" I asked, scared at what it was that was in front of me. A ghost wanting to possess me or take my soul, or a Doom member wanting to kill and take me back to her lair… probably not in that order.

"Relax," her smile widened as she playfully waved her paws out, phasing right through my body. "I am not here to hurt you. I would like to talk to you about something of the importance. I am not this Team Doom you are fighting against, I am something more."

"W-who are you? What do you want?" I asked. Trying my best to look strong and ready for battle despite the blue powder having already taken its toll on me leaving me too weak to do much.

"I could be an elderly emolga blending in the crowd of a clan of three about to enter a battle against ht eother, a battle misunderstood by other forces." The Emolga's form and voice changed into one I knew well, jumping in surprise at what I saw. The Emolga suddenly turned into Espeon. "Or I could be your friend, your ally, someone you know and trust. Or…" her form changed again, this time she was bipedal, nearly the same height as mine but a little shorter. What materialized in front of me was a female Dewott, a shiny one at that with a pink slightly torn ribbon attached to her fur on top of her head. "… I could be someone you will meet." She smiled.

"The Dewott you see before you, you will meet her sometime in the future. The two of you will be here in this very cave again. And by helping the three clans, not only will there be peace, but it will benefit the both of you, it may even save you both."

"Who are you?" I asked cautiously, not knowing what or who this was in front of me. Watching as the Dewott knelt down right in front of me, blocking me from proceeding further up the small tunnel. "Are you a member of Team Doom?" I then asked, the Dewott shook her head.

"I have many names both human and Pokemon call me by. I have many forms I use like the ones I just showed you before. We have even met on a few occasions and talk to one another before." The Dewott smiled. "Would you believe me if I told you that I was Arceus?"

I stared at her for a good while after she asked me that. _'Arceus? As in the legendary Pokemon? B-but why is she here talking to me?'_ I thought, staring into her eyes, watching them twinkle from the glowing floating small blue rock near us. I didn't know what to believe. I thought at first she was another human turned Pokemon Doom created, or a Pokemon that could transform and was just playing around and was following us around since we got into Driftveil two days ago, but not a legendary Pokemon. "I… don't know."

The Dewott looked down at the water and touched it with her paw, allowing the water to flow through her fingers. "You may be wondering why am I here in front of you now, telling you about this section of the cave and suggesting you should come in here. Well, call it a divine intervention if you will, but I am here to help you."

I raised my eyebrow, "Uh, help me how?" I asked, her eyes refusing to turn away from the water in silence, almost a minute passed and she was still silent, like she was ignoring me or something. "Fine, if you won't do anything then I'll… forget it!" With an impatient sigh, I turned back around, about to head back to the others, until the Dewott spoke up again.

"Really, then what is it that you want to do?" She asked, as she turned her eyes up at me.

"I just want to get the others pass safely through the caves. I don't care if they kill themselves over some stupid argument! Let them kill each other!" I was angry at them. All I wanted was for the three clan leaders to allow us passage so we could get across safely to reach the city rather than encounter Doom and risk losing friends.

"Zack, you are not like that. Of course you care about the Pokemon clan within this cave. You want to get through to the other side with your friends, yet you also want to stop them from fighting." She said, gently placing a paw on my own, this time instead of it fazing through my paw, I actually felt it; it was warm to the touch. "Why did you join the Savior's? Why do you like helping people? When you were young, you were bullied by so many, but you still kept on going helping others whenever you could. You joined the Savior's to help people, maybe even to help yourself. The bullying took its toll on you, Zack when you were young. You only had one friend, and she stuck with you through it all. You joined because you felt no one else should go through what you have been through, to help others no one else would save."

"B-but… they won't listen to me." I said, thinking back at everything each clan leader told me about the other leaders. Remembering the faces of each Pokemon I passed, ready to fight the enemy, perhaps ready to kill, it was like all they could see was fighting and talking to them was hopeless.

"It isn't hopeless." She said, placing both of her paws on my shoulders. "Someone up this stream needs your help. If you do that, then you and your friends will be safe. It's safer than if you go out there with the soldiers still there searching for you. This will help you and your friends to get to the other side safely. You are a good Pokemon, Zack. Don't forget that. Just because you are on the run from these people who have done so many terrible things to you and others, doesn't mean you should just turn a blind eye to those that need help. The things you do now may help you and others out somewhere down the line."

I stayed there for a while thinking back on what she said. I didn't know if I could believe her and whatever or whoever it was up the stream needed my help was official or just a trap set up by Team Doom. _'If I did help this someone up the stream, it would benefit me in the future? How would Arcues know that? Isn't that Dialga's thing? Something to do with time I believe…' _Looking back at the entrance, where the three Pokemon clans were preparing to fight soon, I thought about turning back and rejoining the others and talk to them about what I had just seen or who it was I spoke to.

'_The Dewott you see before you, you will meet her sometime in the future. The two of you will be here in this very cave again.' But who is she, and why do I return here?'_ I thought back to that shiny Dewott, telling me that I would meet the real one sometime in the future and that my actions here would help us? Turning back, I crawled further inside the tunnel wondering where it was I would end, whoever it was that needed my help.

* * *

The small tunnel I crawled through was no problem for my size. If I were still human then I wouldn't make it past the opening of the this tunnel, even if I would make it pass the opening, I would have problems trying not to cut myself up by the sharp rock walls and keeping myself dry and out of the stream. Thankfully the tunnel just like with the rest of the cave were still illuminated by the blue floating rocks which helped me continue on without going in blind and end up lost in here.

For what seemed like an hour passed by, I finally came to an opening, a larger area with an open space for me to stand up and stretch. The area was circular with a large waterfall up front with many streams leading to different sections of the Chargestone Cave. But this place was different than the other area; this place wasn't illuminated by the floating blue rocks. Above me, the ceiling had collapsed in on itself allowing not only the sunlight to enter, but a breath of fresh air I gladly took. But as just as I were about to breathe out, I noticed something dark and slightly round just at the corner of my left eye. Turning, I saw what it was; it was a Muk, lying there on the ground with some of its body in the stream groaning in pain. The Muk was also covered in the same blue powder that I was covered in by the Doom drones. The blue powder the Muk was covered in was slowly washing off by the water from the stream.

'The Pokemon must've been affected by the blue powder this way' I thought as I watched more of the blue powder wash off the Muk. 'The drones must've attacked this Pokemon and it fell into the stream. I need to take this Muk with me back to the others. Maybe this is how I can stop the three clans from fighting one another; it may not be too late.'

Suddenly, the Muk noticed me and groaned even louder, about to use Mud Bomb at me, so quickly I said to it kneeling down next to it. "Wait! I'm not here to hurt you. I came to help!"

"W-what? Who is that?" He said with a slurry voice, pointing with his finger at my chest. "Y-you got h-hit too…" I nodded, and he chuckled. "What… you my s-savoir or something? A knight in shining armor coming to rescue me… who'd a thunk it. Hah!" Placing his arm around my shoulder to carry him out of the stream , I had to take him back to the others to get him healed up. Carrying him didn't prove much of a difficult task… "H-hey… w-where that white thing go!?" Sort of. The Muk most of the time was like carrying home a drunken friend, talking gibberish, saying things that didn't make any sense, grabbing the floating rocks and attempting to eat them of break them against the rock walls, and at one point singing some shanty tune.

"Oh I'm a little ship with a set of sails with a crew, captain, you and me. We'll go together risk our lives through the dangerous deep blue sea!" The Muk laughed and gestured for me to sing along with him… even despite not knowing what the heck he was singing, so I just mumbled the next verse or whatever trying to sound similar to what he sang before until he either accepted it or moved on. After I 'sang' the next part of the song, his laugh echoed the tunnel and carried on cheerfully singing his song… "Mphpp meeeh, zaaah meee… ?" or cheerfully mumbled the rest of the song that is.

By the time we returned to where the three Pokemon clans were, the three clans were faced to face with one another about to start their fight. But when the Muk laughed once more, both leaders of their respective clan turned and saw me carrying the Muk emerge from the small opening, all confused and angry that I was still here. So both leaders approached with their clan following behind, all with angry glares and charging up their moves to either shout at or attack me, but I wasn't going to let them. No one would be fighting today, I had to tell them.

"I thought you and your friends had already left!" The Voltorb shouted.

"I guess you can be used as some shield from upcoming attacks then!" added the Zubat leader, flapping its wings faster.

"Water types are weak to electricity, won't do much against them. Might as well toss it aside…" The Boldore scoffed. Helping the Muk down on the ground beside me, I began.

"It wasn't the poison types who poisoned your stream or any ghosts or deities caused by the rock types bashing their heads against one another or at a rock wall." I said, now pointing at the blue powder still on the Muk's body. "This blue power was what contaminated your water supply. The poison types had nothing to do with this-"

"H-he's a right about that a one…" The Muk interrupted, waving his arms around to get attention. "W-weird electrical buzz thingy came flying down and shot blue berries at me… fell down into cave I went and passed out and woke up weaker than a Pidove after a Tuesday night." Yeah, I don't know what that means, so I continued.

"This drone the humans made shoots blue pellets filled with the blue powder. This powder weakens whoever touches or ingests it." I then gestured at myself at my chest and face where the blue powder still was. "As you can see, I was attacked by the same kind of drones that shot Muk here. Muk was found lying in the stream; the water was washing off some of the blue powder still stuck to him. It's how you were poisoned."

The three leaders stared at the blue power on both mine and Muk's body, then at the stream, and finally at each other without glaring this time. "We would never harm anyone, why were you so quick to believe we would ever do such a thing?" The Zubat asked the two leaders as they lowered their heads low to the ground in shame, almost started a fight, one which would lead to so many innocent lives lost, all over a mistake.

"What have done? We destroyed our alliance over something we thought was true, a misunderstanding. We were too stubborn and foolish to believe you. We were too angry to believe you… we were friends once, how could we ever do something so terrible than to blame the poison clan after all they had done for us over the years; helping us with the food during winter, risking their lives to saveour own from a wild Pokemon, being there with us whenever we lost someone we cared for…" The Boldore sighed sadly, shaking his head.

"I feel terrible…" The Voltorb sighed with him. "We almost nearly lost Pokemon we had grown up with, Pokemon who we hold deer, we were risking on losing them without thinking about them, only our anger for one another…"

"No one should leave over a mistake. We can start anew, this time whenever something bad should happen, like an argument or someone from one of our clans gets out of line, then we'll handle it together."

"How about instead of three clans we unite with another and become one clan?" The Voltorb smiled.

"Sounds great!" The boldore smiled, as did with the other two leaders, and so did the rest of the Pokemon behind them, but not with their own types, but with the others joining together and accepting them as part of a united clan.

"Dewott." The Boldore said as he turned away from his friends and at me. "The battle will not begin, nor will it ever come to this cave anytime in the near or later future. We have decided together to let you and your friends through to the other side of the cave without interruptions as our way for helping us."

"That's all?" The Muk spoke up, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "This youngin saved ya'll from destroying each other. I think he deserves more than a simple free uninterrupted passage."

The three leaders looked at one another and nodded before the Boldore said "Then should you and your friends ever decide to come through the cave again, no matter how much time has passed or how many times you come through, we'll never harm you or your friends, always remembering what you did for us."

"Oh no!" The Muk shook its head, disagreeing on what he was hearing. "He deserves more than that. Give him a feast, get him a throne, start a party for him. One which will last for months making all the legendaries of the world jealous with intense rage for how boring their parties are in comparison to our cool party I know will be a blast."

"Thanks, but I'll have to decline on that party. I really have to get going. My friends and I are all tied and we need the rest." I said with a little bit of regret. Wanting to see how wild Pokemon had parties, but I was too exhausted to wait and find out.

"Awww… well, let's have a party anyway. Celebrate a new clan uniting as one!" The Muk cheered along with the rest of the Pokemon, including the leaders… yep, instant regret on wanting to leave rather than staying to witness a wild Pokemon party.

I was happy for them, the three Pokemon clans a few moments ago were almost ready to fight the other, now they were united as one, living together with a… interesting Muk who seemed to love partying and singing shanty tunes.

* * *

The final section of the Chargestone cave was calming and quiet, except for the singing in the distance from the Pokemon behind us, we had no encounter from any wild Pokemon, and we were safe to pass anytime we wanted to without them attacking us.

"Nice going Zack." Latias cheered as she carried me through the cave. "I thought we would've had to wait there at the entrance until they ended the fighting."

"Yeah, I thought that too… I'm glad things turned out well… phew…" I could feel my eyelids growing heavy on me. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Latias saw this and asked me to rest until we reached the city, kissing me on my cheek as I did. I slept in her arms, somehow knowing that we would be alright.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

Nathaniel was to appear within this chapter to serve as the main reason as to why the three clans were fighting. This was cut in favour for another story for the next chapter or two.


	24. Chapter 24 Absorb

Chapter 24 – Absorb

All Doom members have abilities, special and unique abilities that make them dangerous should one get into a fight with either one of them. One to create a nightmare world where the worst fears exist forcing the victim to kill themselves, a toxic mist surrounding the area where the victim must defeat its attacker before the toxic kills them, an ability which interferes with their emotions distracting them long enough so the attacker can make the killing blow. An ability which grants paralysis to whoever is within range no matter what type or resistance they have. An ability to freeze everything and anyone around them with ease. An ability that can render one blind in battle.

All of these abilities are unique to human turned Pokemon, Team Doom members also known as the Team Doom eight. Then were does that leave me? What was my ability I had yet to discover?

All of this time I had yet to fight and defeat a Pokemon by myself. Today was the day I found out what it was that I could do. 

* * *

**Mistralton City – Grand Hotel – Room E7**

It felt great to be clean again, washed away of that blue powder I was covered up in by the Doom drones, followed by delicious food and a warm comfortable bed at the Grand hotel while we rested up before starting out again. We would've stayed at the Pokemon center if the place wasn't all full up, so our final place to stay was the hotel… something which cost a lot more than staying at the center, but at least the showers were better at the hotel than there, the beds… not so much.

Latias was still sleeping in the bed beside me after last night's room service and movie night binge. A Super Latias movie and a mountain full of food with about ten percent left over from last night… so much for my retirement after this. I sighed glancing over at the trays of leftover food, most which cost more than a thousand each for how pricey everything was. I wanted to go out and go to a restaurant or get some food at a store, but thanks to the effects of the damn blue powder, I was stuck here at the hotel.

Sitting up from the bed and climbing out, I walked over to the TV and switched it on, the first channel was a news program about multiple thefts, mostly in Black City, something about several trucks full of minerals and high tech gadgets being delivered to Castelia were hijacked by mysterious men in 'white armor' of course these men the reporters referred to were obviously Doom soldiers. 'Why were they stealing these things?' 'What was Shiny Latias up to?' where the things I was wondering about.

And if on cue, my Savior communications device rang from inside of my bag. After rummaging about inside my bag, I pressed the button and on screen appeared Lee, sitting at his desk, arms crossed.

"Hi Lee, what's up?" I asked in a low voice not wanting to wake Latias up..

"So I take it ya heard the news about the stolen trucks?" He asked, with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Those trucks were Savior owned trucks shipping items to us. But of course Doom had to find out about them and nab 'em right from our hands. I needed those items… damn it! I needed 'em! Well, besides what those morons have done, I feel as though I should defiantly bring this valuable new information up as a way of saying 'fuck you' for stealing my items." Lee picked up a sheet of paper from the side of the desk and began to read. "His name is Reed Dawson, twenty eight, lives alone at an apartment in Mistralton city, and more importantly from our spies; Reed Dawson is one hundred percent a Doom scientist living right where you guys are."

"A Doom scientist?"

"A Doom scientist." He repeated with a smirk. "And get this, not only does he live in Mistralton city, but our sources say that he is still there in the city meeting up with other members later today."

"Good. Once we get the guy, we can try and get information out of him. Maybe even the location of Doom's hideout." I said, happy at what I heard. A Doom scientist was somewhere within the city right now. Once we found him, somehow we could get all of the information out of him and we can find their hideout, find Shiny Latias and take them both down. I felt myself smile at that, perhaps very soon me and Latias could start our life together. Leave behind all of these missions and risking our lives almost every day. Soon we'll free.

"Zack, I'm sorry to say this, but we cannot send anymore Savior agents over to you at the moment. We only have a handful in the city right now happy to help you nab this guy." Lee typed something into his computer. "I'll send you the location where you'll be meeting your team so you can begin to hunt this guy down. I recommend you keep your party small not to attract any unwanted attention from the enemy."

"Alright, it'll only be small. It'll probably be just me and another Pokemon to help us out." I said glancing up at the bed as Latias turned to the side, still asleep. I wouldn't take Latias with me for multiple reasons already; one she was a legendary Pokemon recognizable around the city because of the Super Latias craze going on in Mistralton city for the past several months because of the filming of the new movie. Second was she was uh… kind of um, l-large and we wanted to be… she isn't fat, it's just that her body is larger than us… you get what I am saying. And I am pretty sure the Doom soldiers and scientists would notice a Pokemon similar to their leader wandering around the city. 

"That's good; a small team should help you and your team out. Can't have too many attracting attention from the scientist, scaring him off before we get what we need." Lee set the paper down and began. "Zack, for this mission you are the team leader, you'll be leading these agents of four. These guys you're with, they have been in combat before, very experienced, well trained, so don't worry; you'll be in good hands with 'em."

"Team leader? Huh, I have never been a leader with the Savior's." It was true, I had never been given the chance to lead a small team or soldiers before, I was kind of nervous and a little bit anxious about it. I wasn't sure if I would be ready to lead in battle, I thought since my time within the Savior's was coming to an end soon that I would never get the chance. "Are you sure I'm the right per-uh Pokemon for the job?"

Lee smirked and showing a thumbs up. "You got this Zack! Ya know, I once lead a team for the first time when I was your age back when I was a soldier. I was all nervous and almost wetting myself after every order I gave 'em fearing that it would 'em to either failure for the mission or worse death for 'em. But when the time came to lead 'em, I pushed all of that to aside, talked to them, and trusted in myself, in my team. And before I knew, the mission was over, we all came out alive."

"Now Zack, you have survived a lot of things throughout the years, but you didn't do it alone. You had friends with you, and they have stuck by with you through thick and thin even despite the odds. You trusted them, yes? And they trusted you. When you first met Lisa Rivers and Brent Jackson all those years ago during the time anomaly happening all over the place, you three worked so well together, like a real team knowing each other for only a day. And after that you three clicked and a great team was made, one which saved the world. You trusted them when you guys were out there through different points in time, and they trusted you. With them, do the same and you'll come out together."

Not everything is the same, just because the last time ended well doesn't mean it'll happen the next time. Sometimes the enemy is even more prepared then you.

* * *

****

**Mistralton City – Blue Tunes Jazz Club**

So my small party consisted on myself and Espeon while the rest stayed behind at the hotel with Latias having access to my wallet again to drain me of all of my retirement funds…

The location to meet the four other team members was the café within the center of Mistralton City; Blue Tunes jazz club, a somewhat popular club playing smooth jazz music throughout the entire day while serving pretty good drinks and some food. I had never been in that club before, only hearing how dark it was inside and that the music being played was chill and pretty good for the right kind of people. For me, I didn't know what to expect in the building, I expected something a little bit brighter than what we got.

It was dark, a medium sized rectangular room with hardly any windows the on walls, stairs leading down towards the main room illuminated mostly by tiny lights at different parts of the ceiling and neon signs hung up on the walls, and many soft sky blue chairs and sofas at every corner, with a stage up front were live music was played and a bar at the back.

There weren't many people inside, fifteen, maybe a little more. But what we were searching for were a group of four sitting together within the jazz club.

"You know," Espeon said as we walked down the stairs leading down into the large room. "I believe that whoever this team of four are, I betchya they'll have at least someone with strange large and bright hairstyle/color, something that'll distinguish them from everybody else. Because one thing I learnt from watching anime, it's that they are at least the main character or a person of importance. Because anime!"

I stopped by the time we reached the bottom of the stairs, Espeon stopped before she walked further inside the room. "Espeon, do you think I am ready for this?" I asked, glancing up at the people up front playing jazz music for the audience. I was still unsure about this, leading these people for the mission. No matter what anyone said about past missions I was involved with, how all of us came out unscathed, I still had doubts that I could do it.

Espeon turned around and walked up in front of me, turning her head over towards the band playing the music. "You have been through a lot Zackary. But you shouldn't worry, you'll be fine." She turned her head and smiled before nudging me lightly with her paw pressed on my chest. "Before, you had to focus on me and the rest of the Pokemon. Now, since you are a Dewott you can fight alongside us and help protect those we care for. Before when you still were a human, you watched over us when in battle. Use the field to give us an advantage over the enemy, carefully strategizing our next moves, calling us out when we needed to rather than push us to the extremes like some other trainers had done to their Pokemon, even healing us when we needed an extra potion or two to restore our lost HP. Now with your powers, you can stand with us in battle and help out. Protect us with you own moves instead of commanding us to protect ourselves or dodge an attack. So yes Zackary, I do believe you are ready to lead. You just gotta believe in yourself, believe in the strength of your teammates… or the power of friendship-no, no I am not going to joke about that, it's too cliché."

"I do believe in the strength of my team, but I don't want to be making any mistakes with them." I turned my head and looked at her as she looked at me.

"Many other leaders out there or in the past have made many mistakes; be it by mission fails, losing a comrade or all of them to the enemy, or by sending a few soldiers this or that way to get a good position, or by forgetting that you had an effect card in your graveyard that would've saved you and won you the match… thank you very much duel champions semi final!" Espeon glared at that, not knowing what she meant by duel champions. Maybe it had something to do with that card game she enjoys collecting and playing. "But the point is, people make mistakes here and there. You'll do great, and I'll be there beside you to help you out. So what do ya say, want me to help out?"

"Um, If you don't mind." I smiled, feeling a bit of relief knowing I had someone with me to help me out with this leadership thing.

"Of course I don't mind. I would never ever abandon my best friend. We're stronger together, right Zackary?" She smiled back as we walked together further into the jazz club, up to the bar to ask the guy behind the counter if he had seen our four teammates here.

The only description we were ever given about what our team looks like was one thing to look out for; a green guitar with red strings. Upon approach instead of 'Hi fellow Savior members, let's get down to business' we had to do something else for security reasons. We had to ask and answer questions we were told to say to one another to verify who we all were before we start planning the mission.

At the bar, I asked the man if he had seen anyone with a green guitar, not saying that I was a Savior member or that I had a meeting with them, but that me and Espeon were their Pokemon. As expected with anyone who heard Pokemon speak to them face to face, they were shocked and kind of startled to be actually speaking to a Pokemon without a language barrier. It took some time, but what we did find out was that there was no one within the jazz club who had a guitar here. So instead we ordered a few drinks and waited for the team to arrive at the corner table of the club, listening to the jazz music for almost an hour watching as people entered and left, always watching out for four people fitting the description. But as soon as the music had ended, with a new band preparing to set up their instruments to play more music, four people had entered the jazz club, one carrying something which looked like a guitar case. The four stopped at the foot of the stairs and immediately looked towards the corner of the club at us sitting their staring right back at them.

The four walked over towards us and stopped right beside out table and asked. "This seat taken?" The tall man shrugged his shoulders, glancing behind his shoulder to look at the band almost set up their instruments to play. He was in his mid thirties, short slightly spiky red hair, same hairstyle as Brent's if it were longer. With the other three, they were all wearing the same kind of clothing as the other. Black hoodies with white words surrounded by blue lightning on the chest 'Undella Storm', dark blue jeans slightly torn at the thigh and shins, and black laced boots.

I couldn't see what color the guitar was that was still inside the case, could be anything. Perhaps the enemy could have infiltrated us on our mission and sent these four to attack us. So I had to ask, "Do you play the guitar? Are you four in a band?" The man opened up the guitar case and showed us what was inside; it was a guitar, a green one with red strings. So I gestured for them to sit opposite me and Espeon. Sure they had the guitar, but what I needed was to hear the correct answers from them.

The other three from left to right, beside the man I mentioned before, the first was a young man probably as young as twenty, shaven blonde hair with a little bit of stubble. The woman beside him was older than him and close to the age of the red haired spiky man who spoke to us first. She had black medium length hair with a little bit of a curl at the tips. The third man was oldest of the group, unlike the others, this man was a little bit overweight, kind of a rare thing to see from a Savior member since all of us are required to do a lot of on foot travelling and running from time to time. His hair were light brown short hair but not shorter than the blonde. He wore black glasses and looked as though he was tired from the bags under his bloodshot eyes.

"So uh, just that one guitar? What kind of music do you play?" I asked them my first question, expecting to hear the correct answer from them.

"We play rock music. All of us are still trying to find places we can play our music at, but we haven't found much luck in that yet." The woman answered after a little bit silence. Just enough for the band to begin to play their instruments as the music filled the room full of smooth jazz. It was correct, but I didn't let them know this and continued to ask the next thing.

"What does the words on your hoodies mean? 'Undella Storm' is that the name of your band?"

"It sure is." The woman nodded and explained. "All of us are from Undella town, and believe it or not we met on the day of a storm. So after we started up a band together, we had to come up with a name for ourselves, 'The Four' which was our first name, then a few others over the next two weeks until we decided to call ourselves 'Undella Storm' a name we all agreed upon after remembering the time we all met. Do you like music?" She had finished answering my question, now it was our time to answer their questions.

"I'm into classical music from the seventeenth century." I wasn't that into classical music, but it was the answer I had to follow otherwise things might have turned south. Honest answers had to come later. "I'd name a few of them to you, but I'm pretty sure the most common pieces you'd hear everywhere are probably the ones I love to listen to."

"So what made you come to a jazz club? It was the final question I had to answer. And so I answered with the answer I remembered to answer with.

"I heard music on the radio recently. It was a jazz song I really liked. After listening to a few pieces I got really into jazz, so here I am." And that was it, the four in front of me were official, they were my team. We had all answered our questions we needed to ask the other, and now it was time to begin with the mission.

Or at least not until I got to know them first before we plan things out. Find out what their skills are and what their training was like for them.

"My name is Sakoto, I'm a rank 03 Savior member and leader of our little group you see before you." She smiled at me before looking at the blonde beside her. "This is Elijah, me and him have been together since we joined. Isn't that right Eli?"

"Yeah, you bet." He smiled back at her. "I'm the medic of the team. Need a bandage, Potion or painkiller? I'm your man for the job. So count on me for all of you medical needs"

The man to Sakoto's right waited for Elijah to finish before he spoke up through a stuttered voice. "M-my name's D-doug, p-pleasure." It was all he said until the man; Herman spoke up next.

"Herman's the name. Combat soldier with a seven year history of heavy weaponry I would be glad to put to the test." He pointed at Doug briefly as he spoke. "Doug here isn't much of a talker, but don't let that put you off. He's really good at using ranged weapons. Hit a tin can from Castelia City's Savior rooftop to all the way to the Desert Resort ruins, if you can believe that. This guy has saved me more times than I can count, and he'll do the same for you. I wouldn't trust any other sniper to watch my back." Herman nodded at that, but kept quiet.

"So you're Zack then? The same Zack Raines Rank 01 if what the rumors from the others say is true that you were the one who took down Team Annihilation when you were only fourteen?" Sakoto asked, leaning in with the others waiting eagerly for my response.

"Yeah, that's me. But I didn't do it alone. I had my friends along side with me to help me out. I wouldn't have done it alone otherwise."

"Whoa, never thought we would ever work with you!" She said amazed at my presence, so did the others.

"What was it like when you defeated Juro, THE Juro who created those weird monster zombie things and almost blew up the Unova region with that weird machine of his?"

I didn't feel good for doing what I did, but he had to be stopped. Juro was an evil man who wanted to control the entire Unova region if not more by creating a machine for ten years which was said in the reports to have this unique power absorbed by many Pokemon which could be used as a weapon. He also created abominations from the corpses of many innocent people and Pokemon's lives, Reanimated Corpses we called them to be used as his new army. He was also the same man who killed my parents, my sister and me wanting to create more Reanimated corpses for his army, but for some reason I was the only one who was revived normally. It wasn't something I liked to talk about with others. Espeon looked at me and saw that I was hesitating on answering that, so she then felt it was her chance to introduce herself rather than having me talk about a subject I didn't like.

"My name is Espeon, pleased to meet you all!" She smiled, knowing that after she had talked in front of the four, they would immediately turn their attention towards a Pokemon who could actually talk. Without that much surprise, they all did.

"Holy heck, that Espeon just talk?!" Elijah was shocked, almost standing up in surprise at what he had just heard. In fact, they all almost stood up.

"I sure did." She smiled back, every time she introduced herself to people, every time they would react the same way, and every time Espeon would explain to them how and why she can talk. After the four calmed down and listened to Espeon as she told them the story, her first words, how she trained and how long it took for her, until the moment she met me within the Kanto region. The four listened in as she told them her story, surprised and amazed at how an Espeon was speaking directly to them, an actual Pokemon you'd see on the street or in the wild.

"Wow, must've been pretty useful having a Pokemon who could your team understand Pokemon." Herman said, leaning back in his chair. "But as much as we'd like to know more about this, I believe it's time we get down to business."

"I agree. The Doom scientist is here somewhere within Mistralton and we have to find him." I said leaning my arms on the table. "I was told by Lee you had information on him."

Sakoto leaned her arms on the table, but not before placing down on the table a map of the city between us. "Yes. The Doom scientist resides within the city in the apartment complex located within the west section of the city." She then gestured for Doug to show us something else, photos of blueprints and scrap metal on tables. "Inside his apartment, we found blueprints of the drones I'm pretty sure you are all familiar with. Not only does he have these within his room, but we also found a shipping manifest with several boxes of something called 'DM05' to be delivered at a warehouse this afternoon."

"Why aren't there any more soldiers here to back us up? If these boxes are here within the city, shouldn't there be more to help us out?"

"Doom has us here and there for the past month causing all sorts of trouble for us. We're trying to keep all areas towns/cities under surveillance by sending small teams to each area. Our numbers are low… have been since Doom showed up…" Sakoto said before pushing herself off from the table and leaned back against her chair. It was something I knew before, since the appearance of Team Doom, The Savior numbers have fallen, once it was ten day, then it became hundreds lost by the end of the week, but then by the end of the very first month since Doom showed up, we almost lost almost half of Savior agents because of Doom. But some had quit their job because of this, but it didn't stop them from being killed by Doom soldiers. To them, be you ex-Savior you will still die, no matter how long you have been there for or how old you are.

As of then, there were only four thousand and two hundred agents remaining within the Unova region, slowly falling by each passing day, all because of Doom. Most of them were stationed within Castelia City should another attack happen.

"In the report," Elijah spoke up wanting to get this over with. "It is said the scientist will be going to the warehouse today to check up on the stock, but not before going to the marketplace to meet with his supplier first. And that's where we will tail the guy until he enters the warehouse, then we'll nab him and force the information outta him for what Doom has done to us."

"It isn't that simple." Sakoto said a hint of anxiety present within her voice the more she spoke. "This scientist is meeting his supplier this afternoon. When we last saw him; yesterday, strolling around the city park, we saw he was speaking to another Doom member out loud about the Doom drones and how Doom is taking over the region with ease, even talking about the warehouse they'll meet up at, almost as if he knew we were listening in on him. I don't know, something doesn't feel right about this…"

"What do you mean by that? Did he ever caught on you guys were tailing him before I showed up?" I asked Sakoto, but she shook her head.

"We were careful, we are always careful when it comes to these kinds of missions. Either we got sloppy somewhere, or that Team Doom somehow knew we were coming, wanted to lure us out and ambush us later at a secure location. The warehouse district hardly has anyone there most of the time. You've heard the stories, how Doom soldiers are taking out most of our agents recently?"

"Ambush or not," Herman smiled confidentially. "This little pest and his Doom cronies ain't gonna ambush us, not gonna let it happen. So what's the plan boss?"

'Boss' something I never expected to hear anytime during my time as a Savior member. Hearing someone say that word to me set in for what I was heading for, I was responsible for the actions and lives of these soldiers, and to do things right I had to make the best plan for everything to turn out well. But with Espeon beside me, with a deep long breathe I talked to them, and asked of them what their skills were, what they knew of the mission area; marketplace, the warehouse and surrounding area.

Our plan was for everybody to get into positions; Elijah was to follow the scientist when he got to the marketplace and update us if anything came up. Me, Espeon and Sakoto would be outside the warehouse gate hiding behind an area marked on the map which was said to be the best hiding spot of the area, a perfect area to scan ahead before moving in. Herman would get into position hidden within the warehouse district to update us from within. Doug would be set up on the highest rooftop outside the warehouse district with his sniper rifle at the ready.

We would carefully watch the scientist to enter the warehouse district, meet with his supplier, lead us to his warehouse full of the boxes he has stored inside, and then take him down.

* * *

****

**Mistralton City – Warehouse District**

Several large warehouses stood high beside one another with labels '01' to '20' above the main shutter doors, and one other building with a label marked 'Transport' filled with forklifts and other vehicles used to carry heavy boxes and materials from one warehouse to another, or the airport which was right next it. There was a large yellow crane near the center of the warehouses. Earlier before setting up here, we set up a small camera at the top of the crane to help us see up from a high vantage point to scope out the area.

Our position was behind the tall wired fence which surrounded the entire warehouse district hidden within the bushes, an excellent location to see both the entrance and center area should the scientist come and stop there to meet with his supplier.

"Sakoto," I said, lowering my voice so that no one could detect us if there was someone within the area we hadn't seen yet. "Do you think that this whole thing is a trap? That this guy knows we're already here?"

"It seemed too easy. Us finding the guy, and then immediately after he talks to another Doom member and he tells him about picking up a shipment at a warehouse. Something like this would take us weeks if not more. But I can't say for certain…" She shook her head and continued to watch the area for the scientist Reed Dawson to enter. I was concerned at this, thinking that this was an obvious sign for us to maybe pull out while we still had the chance. Abort the mission for another day and stayed within the city for a while, carefully watching them without being detected and… see where it goes from there. But I didn't, instead I stayed there and carried out with the plan to capture the scientist, I wanted to find Team Doom's hideout and Shiny Latias and take them both out once and for all. I wanted them to pay for what they did, to the Savior's and me. I was sure we would be fine, ambush or not.

Regular updates came in from Elijah; from arriving at the marketplace to get in position, waiting for the target to enter, carefully follow the target to the warehouse, and to arriving at the warehouse district.

Then after the last update with Elijah, the scientist known as Reed Dawson had entered the warehouse district, walking casually and at a calm pace towards the center of the warehouse district, stopping just before he reached the large crane towering above him. An update from Herman and Doug both in positions and ready for anything with eyes on the target, we just had to wait for him to meet with his supplier, get to the warehouse, and he'll be ours. Elijah silently crouched over to us with a set of pliers cutting at the wired fence while Sakoto armed with her rifle carefully watched the surrounding area for any signs of an ambush.

From behind the fence, me and Espeon watched Reed carefully as he made his way over to the center of the warehouses and stopped for a moment, looking right up at a crane overhead before glancing over his shoulder at the entrance before pulling out a phone from his pocket and used it to call someone.

After five minutes, another man entered the warehouse district, walking calmly over to Reed Dawson whilst carrying a silver briefcase of some kind.

"G-got someone h-here. O-orders boss?" Doug said over the earpiece I was given that allowed me to stay in touch with all of my teammates.

"Continue to scan the area. There may be ambush when we move in to secure the target." I said as quietly as I could as we watched the man walk up to the scientist.

The man stopped in front of Reed, turned his head around in multiple directions for any sign of anyone nearby before speaking to him, something we could barely hear from all the way here. Sure, the location behind the fence with the tall bush was the safest area to hide behind giving us a good view of the warehouse district, but the downside was we couldn't hear anything from here. With only a limited supply of equipment from the Savior's; weapons, communication devices with a good range, good quality armor for our team, we couldn't plant the area full of bugs to pick up on what they were saying from here. So all we could do was watch carefully and wait.

Reed and the man continued to talk a bit more until the two walked off toward the direction to one of the warehouses. "Everyone, this is it. The target is moving in. Stand by." Sakoto had prepped her weapon, and so did Elijah after he finished cutting off the wires to allow us entry into the warehouse district. We watched the two men walk slowly past each warehouse, '05' '06' '07' until finally they stopped at one after a long time of walking '14' Reed reached into his coat pocket and unlocked the door of the warehouse and the two men walked inside. Herman, Elijah and Doug remained where they were, while me, Espeon and Sakoto moved into the warehouse district.

* * *

****

**Warehouse No.14**

Slightly dusty, cold, lights flickering with nearly every light bulb in here, a warehouse filled with many red twenty foot shipping containers with the familiar emblem on the side 'D' _"Very incognito Doom, no one would ever think it were you storing materials here." _I shook my at that sarcastic thought. We did enter the same way as the two men; instead we entered through the window at the side of the warehouse, seen before by Herman when he entered the warehouse district. On the other side of the window, we were able to hide behind storage boxes piled on top of one another and filled shelves of different tools and machinery providing us with enough cover from the two men stopping at a wooden open crate underneath a cone of light from one of a few light bulbs not flickering above.

"There, you see? A prime example at how advanced our tech has become." Reed's voice echoed through the warehouse. A scratchy yet very deep voice, something I wouldn't have expected to hear from this man for how scrawny and extremely skinny he looked all the way from here. Inside the crate were many drones with red blue pellets filled inside them rather than the usual blue we had seen before.

"Fascinating..." The other man stared at the drone, touching it with his hands, from the propellers, to the turret of the drone. "What does it do? Besides shooting its target with a weakening agent? This one's ammo pack, it's all red you see. Not blue."

Reed turned to him and smiled smugly. "This one was created especially for enemies we don't need alive. 'Assault Drones' we call these, they use red coated nine millimeter bullets, colored bullets/pellets to distinguish from the lethal to nonlethal, and it's easier that way."

"And you have created more of these?" The man asked Reed, unaware that Reed was already looking at one of the shipping containers, pulling out a key of some sort out of his pocket.

"Not just drones." He flicked a switch on the key and one of the shipping containers opened up. A loud thud echoed the warehouse, something was inside. "Behold our newest creation…" The thing inside wasn't a person, Pokemon or some new monster created, it was a ten foot tall bulky bipedal white mech emerging from the container with its claw-like arms, and booster jets igniting to gain an extra burst of speed. "Doom mech no.05!" He announced just as the mech moved into position behind him.

"Boss, do you read me? Things just got bad!" Elijah said over the ear piece through a panicked voice.

"Elijah, what's wrong?" Was all I could ask before the door of the warehouse opened up as a thunderous sound of footsteps from many had entered the room. Looking through the gap of the shelf, my eyes widened at what I had saw. Twenty soldier's, Doom soldier's armed to the teeth with all kinds of different light and heavy weapons stood side by side the other as their leader swooped down from the open ceiling window above; Nathaniel, landing directly in front of the soldiers and in front of the two men, startled at their presence.

"N-Nathaniel?" The two men said, flinching when Nathaniel turned his head at them with a deadly glare as they hid behind the mech now deactivated.

"You fools! I told you to wait until I showed up with the boys. You two couldn't even wait a minute more couldn't ya!?" The two stumbled as they tried one at a time to come up with an excuse to explain themselves to him; excitement over the new tech created to stop the enemy, or testing the products before displaying them. But Nathaniel silenced them with his fiery wing and flew up a little bit higher above his soldier's and announced. "The boss says we need to load all of this cargo onto the trucks back to the base. So half of ya'll load up," Then at that moment, he turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs "While the other half take care of them!" He then shot a fire move right at the shelf we hid behind exploding upon impact. And just like Nathaniel had ordered, ten moved for the warehouse shutter to start loading the cargo onto the trucks parked right outside, while the rest brought up their weapons, took cover behind whatever they could, but instead of firing their weapons, they instead released Pokemon from Pokeballs they had with them.

"Alright then!" Nathaniel shouted with excitement. "Let's see what ya can do, boy!"

The Pokemon the Team Doom soldiers released from their Pokeball's were; two Ekan's, one Zigzagoon, three Growlithe's, three Zubat's and a Pikachu moving in towards charging with their own moves.

Nathaniel flew up high above and made his way over towards the warehouse balcony window to make his escape. But no, I wouldn't allow that to happen, not this time. So with my Protect up I ran out from behind the destroyed shelf and made my way over as fast as I could toward the stairs. Sakoto and Espeon crouched down low to move behind a stronger more reliable place to stay behind while Espeon protected herself and Sakoto with Protect while Sakoto fired on the soldiers. "_If there was anyone here who could lead us to Team Doom's hideout, to Shiny Latias, then I know it would be Nathaniel, he knows more than the scientist."_ Arrogance, if I hadn't had been arrogant that day I would have found out what my ability did another day, to other Pokemon in a training match or friendly spar, or maybe an argument gone wrong.

With the soldier's kept busy on Espeon and Sakoto, their numbers fell one by one. Sakoto proved to be a skilled shooter, so I didn't have to worry too much about them, they could handle themselves while I took down Nathaniel by myself. But with the soldier's already focused on Espeon and Sakoto, Team Doom's Pokemon were all focused on me, me against ten trained Pokemon. So as of that moment, it was my first ever battle against normal Pokemon. But my main goal was Nathaniel, I wouldn't have time to take them all on, only a few and find an opening and I'll make my way up the stairs to Nathaniel before he escapes.

I could've gone for the scientist and the supplier, but unfortunately, they had escaped the warehouse with the rest of the ten soldiers' when the attack began. So it was either I stopped Nathaniel from escaping, or lose our chance on getting any information from Team Doom. A Zubat with an Ekan's got in between me and the stairs, quickly joined by a Zigzagoon and Growlithe behind me. "There he is! Let's get him!" The Zubat spat, swooping down fast at me using a Poison fang, but I was too fast for it and side stepped to my right quickly grabbing the Ekan's with my Psychic, lifting it up an throwing it right at both Growlithe and the Zigzagoon allowing me a chance to run up the stairs to catch up with Nathaniel. By the time I reached the top of the stairs, two of the Zubat's out of the three released had flew ahead of me both using the move Supersonic, the attacks hit me right into my face, luckily I wasn't inflicted with the confuse status condition, so again I grabbed one of the Zubat's with my Psychic and threw it back behind me into the Pokemon pursing me from the bottom of the stars, and the other Zubat I slashed at it with my Razor Shell throwing it over the side railing. With Nathaniel only thirty paces ahead of me nearing the window, I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Stop!" And I threw one of my Scalchops with Razor Shell spinning still active at him. The Razor Shell did hit Nathaniel, but only his talons, yelping out from the attack, slicing him as it drew a little blood. Nathaniel fell onto the balcony, but if I didn't act fast enough, he would get up and escape. I needed to stop him, knock him out and we'll take him back with the others and force him to talk. A few more steps, one or two attacks to render him unconscious, and Team Doom hideout and Shiny Latias will be finally found. But to my shock, something had wrapped around my legs and I tripped over face first onto the metal floor with a loud echoed thud. It was an Ekan's wrapped around my legs. One of the three Growlithe's jumped up high and slammed down onto my upper body with Take Down. The pain was intense from that attack; I coughed up a small amount of blood. Looking up at Nathaniel from just only ten paces away I could see he was still lying on his back, screaming in pain at his sliced talons. I still had a chance to take him down.

With my scalchop I hadn't thrown yet, I detached it from my hip and activated Razor Shell, lifted it up with my Psychic and spun it around me, hitting both the Ekan's and the Growlithe pushing them both off of me. I stood up, preparing to grab my scalchop still held within my own Psychic move to rush at Nathaniel and defeat him. But I was once again attacked by the Growlithe from behind, only this time, it bit my arm, biting down as hard as it could staining its fangs with my blood. Enraged at the Growlithe from preventing me from getting at Nathaniel, I had to stop them for good; otherwise I would lose my chance.

"That's enough!" I shouted, grabbing the Growlithe with my Psychic and slamming it to the wall as hard as I could, causing a huge dent in the warehouse's metallic walls, knocking the Growlithe out completely. But before I could let the unconscious Growlithe fall to the metal ground, something had happened I had never seen before; the Growlithe's entire body glowed red, and its eyes opened wide, it wasn't unconscious anymore.

Suddenly, the Growlithe shrieked as loud as it could as a wave of the blue energy had engulfed the fire type Pokemon and flowed right into my chest. Not only that, but my wounds from the Growlithe's attack the bite on my arm had healed up completely, this energy I felt flowing into my chest, it was as if it were draining its health into me. The whites of the Growlithe's eyes were all bloodshot, its entire body shook violently before the shrieking silenced. Then the blue energy that had engulfed the Growlithe had faded away, leaving the Growlithe still in my Psychic hold floating and twitching every so often, until nothing… it was dead. Not only wasn't I cured of my injuries, but I felt… stronger somehow.

"S-so that's your ability…" Nathaniel said in shock, but I didn't turn to face him. I was also shocked at what I had just seen. I let go of the Growlithe, letting the body fall to the ground. I could hear the other Pokemon behind me flee in terror at what they had just witnessed.

"Absorbing the life energy of defeated Pokemon, killing them while you gain their power. Heh, not sure why Shiny Latias wants you to kill everyone of us if it'll only make you stronger, kind of bad to give your enemy the advantage over us, but she wouldn't have done it if it meant failure for us." Nathaniel stumbled up off the ground and flew up towards the window. "I will not run from you, boy. But since I am injured here, let's just say that I am taking five before our next battle. So I'll be reuniting with some good old chums of mine and we'll continue the fight in an hour. That's all I'll give you and your friends!"

Nathaniel quickly flew out of the window as fast as he could towards the city, leaving me behind with the body of the Growlithe. The fighting below had ended with Sakoto shooting the last soldier dead.

Is this what Shiny Latias wanted me to do? Fight Pokemon and absorb their energy after defeating them? But why? What would she gain out of all this? This is what I had thought, as Nathaniel flew off into the city, towards the Grand Hotel.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

The location for this chapter was Undella Town at first, but that… was very close to where the ending would take place.


	25. Chapter 25 The Hunters Round Two

Chapter 25 – The Hunters Round Two

* * *

**Mistralton City – Grand Hotel Room H4**

Night approached the city, lights from the lamps, from the buildings and the neon signs eliminating the darkness which illuminated the entire city. A Pidgeot soaring across the skyscrapers of the city was bleeding from both of its talons, it was attacked just recently, news that half of the city was now aware of already. That Pidgeot was unlike any other Pokemon, it had a red body sometimes surrounded in hot flames that would burn any of Pokemon to a crisp. That Pokemon was once a human, a man by the name of Nathaniel, an ex member of Team Annihilation, an ex hunter, now a member of Team Doom and one of eight humans turned into Pokemon with extraordinary powers the original could never acquire.

Nathaniel grunted in pain after a strong gust of wind moved both of his talons together, stretching his wound open. "D-damn, kid got me pretty good! Thought I'd get away before he caught up to me… guess I got too careless, too full of myself on thinking I can just calmly fly out of there without getting as so much as a scrape."

Despite the pain still lingering long after the battle at the warehouse, It had taken him some time for him to finally be where he wanted to be; Grand hotel. A twenty-six golden-like tall building near to the southern entrance of the city and just a little way off towards the center, near to Chargestone Cave. It wasn't the tallest building within the city, that would go to the building located a little north of the center and near to the northeast gate, a building I never got around on knowing what kind of business they did there despite my many times within this city.

Nathaniel flew down low towards the H floor (floors were named by letter from A-Z, A being first floor, and Z being top floor) and was searching for a particular room to fly inside through an open window, and not just any random window, but a window with a red shirt hanging out of. It didn't take him long to find the window with the red shirt hanging out of, but he was more than happy to see it, not just because he could rest up and heal up his wounds, but who it was that was inside waiting for him, two friends, possibly the only true friends Nathaniel has ever had. The room was small, but large enough for two people sleeping in the same room in two different beds one on both sides of the room, one was empty, while the other was full. The room wasn't exactly the most expensive and best looking room the hotel had to offer, but Nathaniel didn't care about that, he only cared about the two men he was happy to see again.

"Boss! Your back!" a voice was heard Nathaniel knew well, followed by another voice welcoming their boss back. "Glad ya okay, man." Nathaniel looked at the two men, one an overweight middle aged man donning a stained white vest, cargo pants with a knife sheath attached to his belt, black boots. He wore a dark green bandanna wrapped around his head. The other man standing next to him was a tall skinny man wearing the same thing as the other man, except for his black rimmed glasses in front of dark circled eyes, and an unhealthy looking face full of many scars.

"Boys! Long time no see you sons of bitches! Hah!" Nathaniel flew up to sit himself down on the nearest chair closest to the window, he didn't have the strength to fly any further inside the room to rest on one of the empty beds that wasn't full of equipment and weapons they managed to smuggle inside the hotel.

"What happened to you boss?" The skinny man now known as Elliot asked before gesturing to the larger man now known as Carl to get something to stop the bleeding, noticing now the blood was dripping from his talons and onto the carpet. The two men were captured by the police after our first encounter with them, so they after they got out they changed their names to avoid detection, but staying silent until their boss got into contact with them again. Surprising at how patient they were after all of these years past without seeing or talking to their boss, I would've thought they would at least move on.

Nathaniel shook his head, snatching a blanket given to by Carl with his wings. "I'm good. Just ran into some kid who caught me off guard. I'm alright now." He tried his best not to wince from wrapping up his injuries. If there was one thing he never did in front of his men was to show that he was in pain, he always thought it was a sign of weakness, a sign that someone could move in and take him down. He wanted to show strength, to show his men he could still move on and lead them for the next battle. "But as much as I would like to catch up on old times with you boys, we have other matters to attend to."

"Yeah, whatever you say boss." Elliot said with an assuring smile. Carl stood beside him awaiting the orders of their boss, proud to be working with him once more after so many years. But before Nathaniel could smile to order his men of the mission they had planned, Nathaniel's video phone rang. Looking over at the phone, his heart skipped a beat when he saw the name of who it was that wanted to speak with him; Shiny Latias. Nathaniel had been too injured to even check if the cargo had made it on the truck, or at least some of it managed to get out of the warehouse district. He was ordered to send his men to load the cargo onto the trucks and deliver them back to base. Nathaniel picked up the phone and reluctantly pressed the button, and immediately the face of his boss appeared on screen with the usual glare she gave to all of her comrades.

"Boss, so good to see you, I was just about to call and give you an update on things going on here at the hotel." He laughed nervously, trying to avoid talking about the warehouse mission as long as he could. "Thank you again for sending my good chums here at the hotel to come and work for me to help me out on our mission here within the hotel. We got the enemy inside this building a few floors below us, and we are just about to get ready to start our mission." Nathaniel yawned, preparing to shut off the phone with his other wing to end the conversation. "Love to speak to ya some more boss, but we are busy at the moment, talk really soon-" But it was too late.

"And what of the cargo, Nathaniel? Did you recover them like I ordered you to?" Nathaniel froze in place hearing her ask this. Disobeying a command or failure on completing a task one hundred percent is like asking for a death sentence with her. A lie, yes, he could try and lie about it. Say that he already saw to it that the cargo had all been removed from the warehouse and was already on its way back to base, but then it would be 'destroyed' or 'stolen' by the enemy at a later date. But lying to her, making a fool of her would only result in a much worse outcome than disobeying and/or failure at a mission, she would see to it that they would suffer before killing them. Nathaniel lost a good amount of 'friends' to Shiny Latias when they had lied to her about doing their job, he could still hear their screams echoing in the back of his head like a broken record player every time he thought about betraying or lying to Shiny Latias, but how else would he get out on not having to be punished by her? He shook his head and decided to tell her the truth, endure whatever punishment Shiny Latias would do to him, better than ending up like the others.

"T-ten of the twenty soldiers you gave command to me left the warehouse to take as much cargo as they could to the trucks… b-but we r-ran into some unwanted company… we encountered Zack Raines and his allies. We couldn't recover anything…" Nathaniel turned his head down at his bandaged talons thinking he could find a way out of punishment by mentioning that he was injured. Perhaps she would go easy on him. "Injured by the Dewott with a Razor Shell to my t-"

"You didn't recover anything?!" She snapped, causing Nathaniel to flinch back. Shiny Latias still glaring at him turned her soul piercing gaze away from Nathaniel's. "My soldier's are trained to handle a Psychic Dewott and his two friends, let alone that loudmouth Espeon of his and my sister… they must've trained a lot since Ren fought him in Driftveil."

"Boss, his Espeon was there with him, but his Latias, the girl and boy weren't there with him, he had soldier's. Most likely The Savior's sending him some armed help-" Shiny Latias held up her paw to silence him as she lowered her glare and instead smiled.

"So the Savior's are giving him some allies?" She chuckled softly before returning to face him with that same evil smile Nathaniel saw many times when a plan came together. "Interesting. Ever since we have been reducing their numbers since we became active, the Savior's have sent their soldier' s all over the place in small groups while they remain what they call 'incognito' if you want to call it that despite how very easy it is to find one. It makes eliminating them slower, and I want them all gone when the time comes for Team Doom to reign over this region and soon after beyond. So because of the Savior's sending Zack Raines some soldiers to assist him all thanks to their spies, I believe if we send the Savior's a 'rumor' about us being at a certain location near to us, I believe they will send so many soldier's including Zack. But then there is the question; how will we get the leader of the Savior's to us?"

"Cornelius?" Nathaniel asked.

"If Cornelius is there, I am certain Clark Stone will go to him."

Nathaniel nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure the lunatic will get them all to show up. A big operation should get the majority of those Savior soldiers to help out. We'll be ready."

"Good." Shiny Latias nodded. "You know what you have to do Nathaniel. Fail this one… and you will be the first to be offered." Shiny Latias immediately ended the call, leaving Nathaniel shuddering in fear at her words, then anger.

"First? To be offered as a sacrifice? If that crazy bitch thinks I'll fail this mission, well she can go to hell." Nathaniel quickly stood up, ignoring the pain and opening up his wounds allowing his bandages to be soaked in his blood. "Alright boys, let's start this show!"

* * *

**Warehouse District**

The warehouse was now filled with police officers after dealing with the remaining Doom soldier within the warehouse district, thanks to Huey, Herman and Doug outside they managed to take them all out with ease (non lethal methods only none fatal) but it would take us a while for the unconscious Doom soldier's and scientist to wake up to provide us with the information we needed.

I lowered my eyes slightly at the thought that popped into my head a few times, it was the image or recording of me one minute focused on Nathaniel before he flew out of the window to escape, to me slamming a Growlithe to the wall knocking it out and… draining its energy out and killing it. The face it made, its bloodshot eyes, it just made me feel sick. I didn't want to kill it, I had no intention of ever killing anyone, but how else would I have found out about this ability? Training with another, a friendly spar, or an argument gone wrong? I was glad I didn't find out about this when I was training with Espeon back at home.

"So, you can absorb the life energy or 'HP' out of a foe you defeat." She whistled as she stood close to me. "Talk about a close call for me, right? Are you okay?"

"I feel terrible for what I did to that Pokemon." I replied as I turned my head up at the sky beginning to darken. It was getting late. One moment I had woken up, met the soldier's to assist us at around noon, and then the attack at the warehouse, and now it was this dark, time sure did fly quickly… for me, it was a quick, but for that Growlithe, what kind of day did it have? Did it have family back home, Pokemon and people who cared for it? I hated that. I felt terrible. "If I had known, known what I could do… then that Growlithe would still be alive right now."

Her expression changed to that of worry, as if she could sense what I was feeling. "Zack, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known about what you can do with that ability and all. And hey, don't punish yourself over this. That Growlithe was following Doom, just like the other Pokemon, they knew what they were getting themselves into. They wouldn't hesitate in anyway if they were to kill anyone else, I could sense it from them that they wanted to see to it that their mission would be completed no matter what."

"Yeah… but I wish I could've done things more differently." Watching as the police arrested the Doom soldier's and dragging them inside the police trucks to be taken away, I was also on the lookout for any of the Doom soldier's Pokemon anywhere within the warehouse district caught by an officer or hiding underneath or behind anything I could see from the center of the district, but I couldn't see any of them anywhere, they were probably long gone by now. What did they think of me when I did that to that Growlithe? Was I some freak to them, a monster in their eyes? Perhaps that's why they ran off. I just hoped that those Pokemon didn't go back to Team Doom and that they found… I don't know something better. I didn't want to do that again to anymore Pokemon, I wasn't a murderer. But then how would I defeat Shiny Latias if it meant that my ability would kill her after defeating her? And what of those human turned Pokemon, could my ability kill them? They keep showing up from time to time, even if I did try and run from this, they would try and find me and those I care for. If I ever want a life without looking over my shoulder at every minute for them I would have to stop them. Perhaps I could find a way on not fighting any of them. But what I wanted to know at that moment was 'Would I still think that if Shiny Latias were here in front of me?' or 'if she or any of the other Doom members killed someone I cared for?' 'Would I still want to keep them alive instead of kill them?'

Espeon, Sakoto and I walked back together to the grand hotel to retire for the night. Tomorrow we would discuss a future partnership together for another mission somewhere down the line.

"You handled yourself pretty well back there Zack, I'm impressed." Sakoto smiled, resting her hands inside her jacket pockets as she walked… I miss wearing a jacket… "Learning those moves must've been tough."

"It would've have been if I didn't have a teacher like Espeon." I smiled at Espeon as we walked, she smiled back. She taught me a lot, couldn't have asked for a better teacher. "But I am still in training. It'll defiantly take me some time for my skills to get better."

"Was that your first time battling with your new form?" She asked, I shook my head and told her that I had fought Doom Soldier's before. "You know, seeing you at the warehouse back there reminded me a lot of my younger years as a rookie Savior member. You kind of move just like me back then." She sighed as she looked up at the starry sky above the city. "I was rash, going into my first mission with my friends, I thought this would be a cakewalk. But then this happened." She lift up her jacket sleeve to reveal a ten centimeter long scar just below her elbow. "Got this believing I could stop every attack from a sword wielding annihilation soldier after all of the training simulations I completed. Let's just say I was glad I had a good team backing me up and saving me before that solider could finish the job."

"So do you think we could be working alongside you again?" Espeon asked Sakoto, taking an interest in her. Espeon did that when I would be working alongside someone new she liked, it happen quite a few times in the past. If they did join, she would ask them nonstop almost about their training and past missions, or if not she would still ask if she could. So let's just say no matter what the answer was from Sakoto, this would possibly end in a long conversation, with me joining in by Espeon's demand.

"It is possible that there may be another mission we'll be part of together." Sakoto shrugged "After all, Team Doom is still out there, so who knows."

As we were nearing the corner towards the street which would lead us in the direction of the Grand hotel, a five more minute walk, we saw many cars and trucks stop in the middle of the road as the drivers and passengers got out, most of the civilians we saw had their phones out, pointing and screaming in the direction of the hotel, then all of us could smell smoke. Quickly turning the corner, we looked up in shock as the Grand hotel was on fire. Shock turned to anxiety, I ran ahead of them toward the hotel in search of my friends, of Latias. How did this happen? Where they alright? I needed to know and fast.

Arriving in front of the hotel, many people had escaped through the front doors with burnt clothing, all coughing and some bleeding. I was searching desperately for any signs of Sakura, Isaac or Latias emerge through those double doors, but as less and less people ran out of those doors I feared that they could still be inside… and…

"Zack!" I turned my head, it was Sakura wrapped up in a blanket. Isaac limped over next to her coughing. "L-Latias is still in there!"

"Latias?" my eyes widened as I turned upward at the fiery building towards the E floor windows. Without waiting a second longer, I turned toward the double doors of the hotel and ran inside, ignoring Sakura, Isaac's and Espeon's shouts to stop me from entering the burning building.

* * *

**Grand Hotel – Emergency Staircase**

The stairway was empty; no more people ran down the stairs and were the only place in the hotel that didn't have too much smoke. I had to make my way up to five floors to get to floor E where my room was and where I had hoped I would find Latias alright and well so we could escape together.

"Well looky what we have here!" A voice from a man I didn't know, or I would if I looked up at the two men to get a better look and recognizing that they were Nathaniel's old friends from way back when he was still a hunter shout from the top of the C floor staircase, he was a skinny man holding a shotgun aiming at me with another man standing right next to him holding a pistol sideways while aiming at me with a smug look on his face. "It's Zack Raines, Nathaniel said he would be-" But I didn't care about that, all that mattered right now was saving Latias instead of waiting there and listening to these two talk and threaten me with weapons I could easily destroy with my moves. With my Psychic, I grabbed hold of both of the two men and threw them back down stairs so I could advance upward to the next two floors.

"Gah! G-get him!" I heard them yell, struggling to their feet trying to keep up with me.

"_I don't have time for this."_ I thought as I ran up the stairs. _"I got to find Latias. I want to have that life with her."_ I thought of me and Latias sitting together at the hill at the edge or Nuvema Town watching the sunset together, it was a time when Shiny Latias hadn't killed my mom, a time I just started out with my relationship with Latias. I didn't want Latias to be the next one to die, I had to save her. I wanted for us to have a quiet and peaceful life together, without Doom or going on missions risking our lives every day.

When I had finally reached the E floor door, I opened it to be met with a huge cloud of black smoke and intense heat from the walls covered with fire. Covering my mouth with a small towel I grabbed from the lobby before I ran up the stairs, I covered my mouth and nose from the smoke as I made my way towards the room that was down the end of the corridor.

Carefully opening the door open with my Psychic, I saw that the wall and window had been destroyed from the fire leaving a huge hole in the wall, and where I noticed a Pokemon I saw not too long ago, Nathaniel with a smug smile as he was engulfed in fire. At first I forgot that he was a fire type so the fire did nothing to him.

"Oh, it is you boy. Heh, you were quick at the warehouse. Did you and your friends come here to fight me?" He chuckled. But I stayed silent, raising my scalchop up to my chest to prepare to attack him. But before I did, Nathaniel lifted his wing up and pointed at the bed, Latias was on it while covered in debris from the ceiling. "Better get to it boy, or missy here will be saying hello to her parents in the after world."

Running up to Latias, I used my Psychic to carefully lift up the debris off of her and threw them at Nathaniel, but instead of dodging them, he instead used his fire moves at them destroying them before they could even so much as touch him.

"Latias. Hey are you alright?" I asked concerned as her head was slightly bleeding a little, she was dazed, but she shook it off and hugged me.

"Zack!" But she wasn't saying that happy to see me, she was instead warning me of the two men appearing at the front door of the hotel room aiming their weapons at us. Latias used Protect to shield us from the two men before they could fire at us, but Nathaniel held up his wings.

"You boys get down stairs. I'll take care of the lovebirds. So git!" The two men lowered their weapons and ran off down the corridor towards the stairs, leaving me and Latias alone with Nathaniel. "Nice room you two got yourselves. Honeymoon suite is it? Or don't Pokemon ever get married at all?" He said before using Ember at the doorway, concealing us inside the room.

"What do you want?" I demanded, activating my Razor Shell as he flew up and landed on one of the tables at the far end of the room.

"What I want is for your friends out of the picture for good. This entire Doom operation was supposed to be about you and only you so me and the other Doom freaks can move in and prepare you for what the boss has planned for you."

"Why does my sister want out of this? Why are you following her?" Latias asked as she levitated up off of the bed.

Nathaniel shrugged. "The hell I know what she is planning. Even if I did know what it was, her grand scheme I sure as hell wouldn't tell you. As to why I am following the boss, your dear sister, well she opposes you, wants to kill you. so I joined wanting the same thing as her, and here I am; a freaky Pidgeot with fire powers at my finger- wing tips to be used whenever. I can also survive the fire, endure it without it hurting me, yet it warms my body up. I guess you could say I am in my element here." He chuckled. "But I could tell you one thing, this entire thing, it would've run so much smoothly if yo pals never volunteered to help you on your little revenge quest. Probably would've been over and done with right about now… boy, am I glad you brought your friends along, at least I got to see my old chums once more. I would've been dead right about now if ya didn't."

"_How would we escape?"_ was what I wanted to know._ "Was Latias alright to fly us out of the burning hotel?" _I knew that we shouldn't stay inside the building any longer, the amount of oxygen in here was low, and so our time in here had to be.

Nathaniel flew up from the table and laughed. "Now let's burn things up, cause I am ready to unleash my moves on ya'll, hah! Time to get my revenge on ya's for destroying my hunters' business!"

Nathaniel flew around the room using the first move Flamewheel engulfing himself in fire and spinning around the room attempting to hit us as he spun. Latias and I together stayed close to one another as we used our own moves to hit him; Mist Ball, Dragon Claw, Razor Shell and Psychic to try and manage a hit or two on him, but all attacks missed their mark and ended up hitting the burning walls and ceiling. Nathaniel stopped using Flamewheel as he flew up to the ceiling.

"Phew. Note to self; using Flamewheel for a long period of time isn't good for one's head… everything is spinning around me. Hyah! Gotta shake it off to stay in the game!" Nathaniel then began to use Fly multiple times, trying to attack us each time as he used the move, but like with us he had no success in doing so. But every time he was low down close to us, we did try to hit him with our own moves.

"Zack, I got an idea." Latias said quickly, gesturing with her paw for me to get close to her. I ran up close to her as she used Protect to shield us from Nathaniel's fire attacks. "Zack, let's combine our moves; you use Razor Shell and I'll use Mist Ball. I'll use my move first; you throw your scalchop at it. I think I have something with this." Not knowing where she was going with this, I went along with what Latias wanted. We had never practiced or trained together before, only on a few occasions have I ever seen a combination from her with another Pokemon during battle, the one time I could think of was when Dewott and Latias teamed up to fight against Team Annihilation soldier's during my first year as a Savior member. Latias had used Mist Ball, and Dewott used Ice Beam. With their combination attack they created a Mist ice ball attack or something, it was like the Mist Ball separated into smaller balls when in contact with Dewott's Ice Beam and turned into hail exploding upon impact. When she used Mist Ball, I wondered what kind of combination attack was Latias thinking of before I threw my scalchop with Razor Shell activated.

Latias shot the Mist Ball directly at the ceiling with my scalchop quickly gaining in on it. The two moves collided with one another but not in a way I had expected. The scalchop still spinning had cut into the Mist Ball began slicing into it sending small disks flying everywhere throughout the room exploding upon impact. Out of the many that were sent flying, a handful had hit Nathaniel midflight, and a blood curdling scream was heard amongst the smoke created from the impact. When the smoke had cleared away, we saw blood where Nathaniel once was as he crawled to the open wall before flying outside to escape once more. Halfway between the impact point to where he crawled, we saw something covered in blood, it was one of Nathaniel's talons sliced off.

"M-my talon! Y-you cut of my talon damn it! I'll get you for this… ah!" He screamed from as more spurts of blood dripped from his wound. He used a fire move to cauterize the wound before flapping his wings to fly away from the building as fast as he could.

Disappointed that Nathaniel had once again escaped when we almost had him, we had other matters to attend to. "Zack, c'mon we got to get out of here." She said as she lifted me up off of the burning floor and out of the burning room through the open hole and outside again to be met with fresh air. "Are you alright Zack?" She asked as she levitated us down closer towards Sakura, Isaac, Sakoto and Espeon near the ambulance that just arrived to tend to the injured. I replied by nodding my head before coughing from a large cloud of smoke drifted close to us, but drifted elsewhere from a huge gust of wind that passed by.

"Nice going with that combination attack back there Latias." I smiled up at Latias.

"Yeah! I came up with that all by myself." She proudly said with a huge grin. "I remembered back when I was training a few weeks back how my Mist Ball when combined with other moves seemed to flow together somehow, like whatever I used always seemed to work with it. So I thought that if your Razor Shell could somehow chop up my Mist Ball, it could scatter them, shooting them all over the place. And since Nathaniel was flying around the room at the time, I figured as well that this might be a good chance to at least try."

"Combination attacks, huh. We should do more of those in battle more often." Another breeze of fresh air blew, ruffling our fur/feathers. I was happy we could be speaking like this again after fearing the worst had happened and that Latias was… I wanted more moments like this, happier times for us.

But soon, Team Doom would be found, and the missions for me and only me would continue for a long time, a future that would never be.

* * *

**Somewhere outside of Chargestone Cave**

An hour had passed since Nathaniel had escaped the city in piece… kind of, and treated his wound with a large pile full of empty bottles of Potions he had at first saw no intention in using in front of his two friends, not wanting to show weakness from the pain, but because of the pain he was feeling right now, he had to. Ignoring Carl's and Elliot's pleads to take it easy after throwing all of the bottles of empty potions at the rock wall opposite him, anger for losing a limb, or knowing Shiny Latias wouldn't go easy on Nathaniel for failing his mission, perhaps both.

"Nathaniel," Shiny Latias spoke on the phone to him as he looked away from her. "You have failed to carry out your mission; Kill the Latias, burn Zack's friends alive leaving him and that Espeon alive to finish off some other time, but you couldn't even do that."

"I tried to do it, I had expected the girly and the wimpy kid to be all in the same place as the Latias, but it was only her." Nathaniel said angrily but quietly. Not wanting his two friends to hear him as they packed up their equipment before moving out. "How was I supposed to know she was in that room alone?"

"Then maybe you should've watched them then more closely you fool!" Shiny Latias snapped back, crushing objects around her with her Psychic. "This was an excellent chance to kill Latias and the two humans. Killing them while Zack knowing it was us would've made it so that he would never abandon his quest in search of us."

"L-look, I know I screwed this up," He struggled to say as fear got the better of him. He didn't want to be the first sacrifice, he wanted to live. He tried to find ways, any way to live and continue on with a new task that would make him useful. Live a longer time so he can be with his friends longer. "but I can promise you that'll do better, so much better than what happened today."

Shiny Latias didn't glare anymore, she only smiled before the words Nathaniel never wanted to hear when he knew of the sacrifices all numbered members of Doom except for me had to do. "Congratulations Nathaniel, you will be the first member of Team Doom to be sacrificed. Come back to base, so we can prepare you for your final days alive." And there it was, Nathaniel was destined to be the very first sacrifice. Shiny Latias had ended the call leaving a blank screen on his phone. He allowed the phone to drop to the ground.

To be continued...

* * *

**Tape #14: Character Interactions 02/02 - Debate on Leadership**

Date: Unknown

Tape found within old Doom camp located south of Driftveil City

Security Level: 03

A voice can be heard, a scratchy voice identified by numerous Savior agents as Cornelius (Text deleted) "What are you talking about you oversized rock!? I should be leader of Doom!" *Cornelius Scratches the rock floor.*

Another voice, a deeper voice identified by some as Henry, a member of Team Annihilation: "It's not that you are a bad choice for our Leader it's just that Shiny Latias was given orders to lead us, and i intend to follow those orders to the grave if i must." Henry remains still. The sound of something scrapping a wooden floor can be heard. It remains unknown what is the cause of the noise heard on the tape. No investigation required.

"She is not a numbered member like us, yet she treats us as if we were her pawns in some game. SHE is a pokemon. SHE does not have a number like us. Me; number 01, You; number 07, Zack; number 08. Shiny Latias? a big fat fucking nothing! I am the first human to turn into a Pokemon, 01, I have been with Annihilation for several years, several years of taking orders and risking my life everyday for them, and what do I gain out of that? I have to follow whatever that big fat nothing tells me to do, otherwise I would be the first to be sacrificed… to power up that Dewott for Shiny Latias' own personal desires, and for what?"

Henry can be sighing "Even though she isn't an official member, she is our leader. And she is one of us."

"What do you mean one of us? You mean our leader, right? Or do you mean she is a member of Doom through another way? Like with the army of Doom Troopers out there? Or is it because she was once Juro's pet he kept around as a bodyguard, Is that what you mean by 'One of us'?"

"No. What I mean is that she is also a numbered member of Doom."

The scratching ceased, and Cornelius' voice can be heard again, followed by Henry. "Another number? But she was born as a Pokemon, not human. What do you mean she is a numbered member? It's impossible, all born Pokemon who have been injected with the Doom serum cannot be affected by it. So why does that make her a numbered member?"

"She is a numbered member because the serum accepted her, it changed her. A Pokemon with a new ability. It was how she was able to 'hire' ordinary civilians to join her cause, these so-called soldier's are not military trained, they were only brought along so that Shiny Latias can have an army at a fast rate."

"But why does she want Zack to defeat us? To kill us? What does she gain out of this?"

Conversation ends

**AN: And so chapter 25 is done and out of the way with chapter 26 sometime next week. Thanks for the reviews, it really helps, and of course thanks to ya'll for reading and I hope you stick around for more. Until next time.**


	26. Chapter 26 Ally or Foe

Chapter 26 – Ally or Foe

* * *

**Mistralton City – Toy Store**

The ones responsible for the fire had escaped; the Grand hotel fire had been put out before the sun rise in the morning. But as for those who had reserved rooms ha to be taken to somewhere else on behalf of the Grand hotel. Over two hundred people were taken to different hotels around the city, but as for us we had to stay at the Pokemon center since everywhere else was full up.

The news around the city about the Grand hotel fire spread throughout the Unova region overnight, multiple sources said there was an accident on the so-and-so floor, faulty wiring or something, arson, a fire type Pokemon going rabid, well they weren't wrong with that last one, but none of them ever mentioned Team Doom were ever involved, no matter how many times we told them. A human turned Pokemon Team Doom member setting fire to a building we were staying at to lure us inside… yeah, I got a lot of questionable looks every time I said 'human turned Pokemon' whenever I mentioned Team Doom, or 'Team Doom' like they had never even heard of it despite how much the media already knew about them. It was like the people in this city all chose not to talk about them, about Team Doom. As if they were afraid of them for some reason.

We had to stay in the city for a few more days while Isaac's leg healed up. After Latias and I escaped the burning building and retuning back to the others, we discovered Isaac had injured his knee while escaping the building. I had strongly considered on sending Isaac back along with Sakura while me and our Pokemon continued in our search for Team Doom, seeing this as a good chance to convince them to go back home anxious something would happen to them if they continued on, but like always they would say the same thing 'No way man, we ain't gonna let you do this alone.' and like always I would always agree with them and let them come with us thinking everything would be fine. I know I should just buck up and tell them that they shouldn't tag along, that they are not trained for this kind of thing and probably get someone else to assist with our search for Team Doom. But I didn't, I just let them talk me into taking them with me…

At first light in our new room at the center, Latias and I walked around the city to see the sights this city had to offer (excluding pricey outings, not wanting my wallet to be sucked dry leaving me empty) so it was the cheaper options; Museums, wandering and sitting around at the city park, the mall, maybe watching a movie. But of course Latias had to drag (carry) me around the city planning her own day to spend time with me; stores with more Super Latias toys and other merchandise I'm pretty sure Latias had already bought before, ice creams, hotdogs, and climbing one of the tallest towers of the city and looking out through a telescope. I was fine with that one since it didn't really cost anything… although, I was concerned that Team Doom would show up again while we were up there and it would be another burning building we had to escape/fight from.

Latias had dragged me over to the toy store, a really large building filled with thousands of toys stacked up on many shelves. I'm not kidding about the amount of toys they have in there, it was a lot. There were twenty long aisles stacked with different toys; board games on aisle two, bikes and skateboards on one, and so-and-so on the others with discount toys on the very far end of the store, something Latias loved going to almost first time to check if they have a rare or unique one of a kind Super Latias toy inside, but this time we just walked over to the board games aisle.

"It's something I have wanted ever since we left Nuvema town, it's a Super Latias adventure game called 'Super Latias Adventure Game' it's a four player game we can play while resting up at a center or wherever. It should be a change than setting up our equipment all the time and then sleep afterwards."

"But Latias, if we don't have our equipment ready for the next day, who knows what kind of trouble we'll get in. And I don't want anyone of us getting injured because we failed to check up on our equipment." I chuckled, amused at her excitement as she flew up and down the aisle like a child.

"I know, but every traveller should at least have one or two board/card games in their inventory for the road." She replied still continuing to search up and down the aisle in search for her board game. "I found it!" She squealed as she picked up the board game was searching for with both of her paws, lowering down in front of me to show me the game… and of course the price wasn't cheap, two thousand.

I wanted to save my money as much as I could. I was going to buy her the game as well as a pack of cards I noticed at the start of the aisle to play some card games here and there, but I had to set the record straight and try to tell her that I could only get her this and nothing else, a somewhat difficult task. "Latias, can we only just purchase the board games and do something that doesn't involve us spending much money?"

Latias lowered her ears and looked down at the box and nodded. "O-oh um, of course we can. I'm sorry Zack, it's just I haven't been able to get out a lot. I saw Super Latias toys and other things I liked and, well I just wasn't thinking, I promise I won't force you in any way to buy me those Super Latias things ever again while we are out on the street of this city and the next city/town after that."

"So, how 'bout we check out the video games store across the street? I hear they have this amazing role playing game that's really popular. Perhaps I'll search every city and town and purchase every single bit of merchandise I find after I am done playing." I smirked teasingly, imitating how Latias reacts to every time she notices a Super Latias product anywhere we go. So Latias just scoffed and shook her head with a audible sigh.

"Hahah, very funny Zack." She said trying her hardest not to smile herself. "Let's just buy these and get out of here"

"But Latias wait!" I grabbed Latias paw and pointed with my other at a t-shirt hanging on one of the shelves featuring a video game character from a famous side scrolling platform game. "Oh gosh! I have totally gotta get that shirt! It's from that video game I love so much. I'll probably get myself a mug and action figure before going home to replay it so many times in one night. Oh, maybe I should get that characters food brands as well to up hype for when I play the game!"

"Oh shut up…"

* * *

**City Park**

So our day at the city thankfully didn't involve us spending money on whatever we could find, it did however lead us to a good day, just me and Latias wandering the city with no destination in mind other than see what the next corner would bring us; browse a store we found, a museum on the different kinds of planes they once flew here, a comic book store, a theater, or even a dead end from which we just turned back around and go down another street to wherever it would take us.

So after an hour of wandering the streets, with little care about others staring at us, pointing and taking photos of me and Latias, we finally ended up at the city park. With all the people still staring at us we ignored them the best we could. At first when they did that I was worried about it, made me anxious whenever they did that, but being with Latias all this time, talking to her and listening to her stories, things she wants to do, the staring from the people, their voices were faded out, something I thought would take a long time to go.

The city park was located somewhere near the center of the city, a little bit to the west from the Grand hotel, probably ten to fifteen minute walk if the traffic wasn't a problem. Healthy green grass, shrubs here and there with the occasional planting of flowers to brighten up the place, large trees with a few flying type Pokemon resting on the branches of some, a large fountain in the middle with about twenty benches for people to sit on surrounding it. Me and Latias sat on the grass starring up at the blue sky cloud watching and just talking about whatever came to mind.

"So Zack, where do you want to go first after we put an end to Team Doom's reign of terror over the region?" She asked before nudging me with her head and pointing at a cloud up above us that looked like a boat, a steamboat you know the one with that wheel at the back? An old timey one? Probably the kind you'd see near a swamp-like area? Well anyway, the place I had in mind was a region I rarely got to see instead of stepping out of the city to explore more; Goldenrod City in the Johto region. I once went there last year for a mission with another Savior member to deliver some classified files or something. So after the delivery it was straight back to the Unova region. Maybe that would be a nice place to start things off.

"I think somewhere nice would be the best start for us, somewhere sunny and has really good weather. What do you have in mind?"

"We could go to the Kalos region again. After all, we didn't leave that beach resort area for the two weeks we where there. I would like to go back, but this time we'll explore more of the region." I turned my head to look at her as she sighed, but she still kept on looking upward at the sky, pointing at the clouds still. "I want to explore the regions, just have fun and relax. And after that, perhaps we could settle down together, find somewhere we can start a family together." She blushed as she shyly turned her head so that we were now face to face.

I smiled at that wanting the same thing. "Me too." But before we could do anything more, the once quiet park was now filled with the sound of someone sobbing nearby. Sitting up, our heads turned towards the source of the noise. Standing in front of the fountain was little girl, five or a little bit older standing there with both of her hands raised to her face wiping away at her wet eyes as she cried. She had long blonde hair, most dangling in front of her face. She wore a blue and white checker knee length dress with a long white ribbon around her waist, and wearing ankle high white socks with a Butterfree outline just slightly visible just above the outline of her purple shoes.

Expecting that her parents to walk up to her or someone else to approach and check up on her, no one did. By the look of it we were the only ones in this section of park, which was odd since a couple of minutes ago this area was brim with life.

"Zack, that girl over there we should go see why she's crying." Latias quickly said as she levitated over to her with me following after her. Upon approach, Latias asked the girl gently, despite the girl not being able to understand her, "Hey, what's wrong?" The girl didn't react once at that, she continued crying. So Latias slowly leaned her head against the girl's chest nudging her lightly, which seemed to work as she girl lowered her hands, but still kept them up near her eyes. Latias smiled at her and asked "It's okay, I won't hurt you. See?"

"Hi." The girl said lowering her hands but not before wiping away at her eyes once more. Latias moved her head at the girl's chest again, but this time kept it there for the girl to pet her which she did. "W-where did you come from?" Latias turned her head slightly still by the girls chest and gestured for me to speak to her. I wasn't sure what the girl's reaction would be when I spoke for the first time to her, but I had hoped she wouldn't scream or run away.

"Are you alright?" I asked, walking up beside her. The girl shrieked when I approached, but not from fear at a talking Dewott, but excitement as she turned around and picked me up pulling me into a tight hug… suffocating hug to be precise. Laughing uncontrollably the longer she hugged me, a sudden quick turn from being sad one minute and the next laughing and smiling this much.

"Wowie, a talking Pokemon! (She pronounced Pokemon as; Pocky-mon) I never knew your kind could talk!"

The girl slowly but eventually loosened her grip around me allowing me to breathe finally, but she still kept hold of me. "Uh y-yeah, but not all of us can do that, only a small few like me for example." The girl smiled and continued to pet Latias as she nuzzled at her face. "Wowie! You're cute!"

"My name is Zack and this right here is Latias. And what about you? I'm pretty sure you have a name?"

The girl giggled and replied. "Of course I do, doesn't everybody have a name? I'm Jessica." She grinned.

"Jessica, why were you crying before? Are you alright?" I asked her, Jessica's smile fell as she shook her head, tears beginning to reform at her eyelids.

"I'm lost. My mommy and daddy haven't found me yet. I was walking with them to the airport to go on the plane for our new home, but I lost them in the crowded city… I can't find them… *sniff*"

"Tell you what, how about me and Latias here help you look for your parents?" I offered, but was immediately crushed into another hug as the girl laughed uncontrollably.

"Hurray! Let's go!" With her sudden quick mood changed from a sad girl to a happy one with a bright smile and dry face free from tears, Latias allowed Jessica to hop up on her back and hold onto her with her arms around the base of her neck as she carried her towards the Mistralton airport, a ten minute walk from here, but because Jessica was being carried by Latias and she did fly at an incredibly fast speed were I would have to run to keep up, it took us a surprising two minute quick journey, not much traffic, not much crowds of people blocking our way, just a clear and empty path towards the airport… it was kind of strange for how long it took us to get there from the park, and that street usually is the most crowded out of the entire city… how strange.

* * *

**Mistralton City Airport**

The terminal loud and busy full with thousands upon thousands of people in and out flying all over the world; business trips, vacations, new lives to start in, or in our case to search for a little girls lost parents. Surely we would find this girls parents soon, I mean what kind of parent would ever abandon their child?

At first we waited at the entrance doors should we find the little girl's parents waiting for her outside, but the only people we ever saw were people going in, going out, or waiting out here for a taxi, but sadly no parents waiting for their lost child. So after that we instead searched for her parents inside the terminal, maybe we could speak to a staff member to help us search for them, but for some annoying reason they were all like 'Can't talk now.' 'Bother someone else for a change.' And one rude staff member clearly not doing anything other than sit down staring up at the plain ceiling telling us with a smug 'Go away, I'm too busy for you.'

"What the heck is wrong with these people? Can't they see that we obviously need help?" I sighed starting to get frustrated at the staff members attitude and lack of helping us.

"I know. None of them seemed to care at all. They were just all lazy…" Latias sighed, glancing down at Jessica as she began sobbing.

"I-I d-don't see them anywhere…" Jessica frowned, Latias levitated towards her and gave her a warm hug telling her that everything would be alright and we would find her parents. To the far wall near the almost empty ticket counter was a security guard checking behind the desk for something, since the other staff members weren't the nicest people to ask for help I assumed this man would help us find the girl's parents.

"You two stay here, I'll go to that security guard over by the ticket counter and see if we can get some help." I walked as fast as I could towards the guard before he walked off without giving me a chance to talk to him, but thankfully the crowd throughout the terminal didn't cause much of a problem and let me pass so I could catch the guard just as he turned towards stopping right in front of me. "Excuse me." I said loud enough and clear for the man to hear me for how loud the crowd were getting. The guard looked down, crossed his arms and waited for me to explain to him why exactly had I stopped him. "There's this girl with me who has lost her parents. She says her parents were coming here before they got separated in the crowd outside. Can you help us?"

"Listen kid, do I look like a babysitter to you? Now buzz off and bother someone else." The man scoffed, pushing past me making his way towards the crowd to continue his work, but this time I wouldn't let them. This girl needed our help, and if these people didn't want to listen to us, I'd make them listen. I was a Savior member; I had the authority for it.

Running at the man as the power walked off into the crowd as if somehow they were assisting him on helping him escape and block me off. Running through open legs wide enough for me to squeeze through, jumping over luggage, I had finally saw him through the crowd, and when I was just about to stop him with my Psychic, my entire vision went black followed by a loud crash as I had ran into a pile of luggage left behind by the crowd. After finding my way out of that pile of luggage to see light from the terminal once more, I was confused as I was met with something else I hadn't expected… silence. Crawling out of the pile, I looked around the area expecting to see myself surrounded by the same crowd of people not long ago standing around the terminal talking, laughing, and waiting, but I found myself to be alone in this area, no crowd of people, no annoyingly rude staff members, no power walking security guard still power walking away, no little girl, and no Latias anywhere to be seen.

"L-Latias?" I called out for her wanting to know where she was, but instead of her voice only an echo of my voice were heard calling out her name. Walking off the pile of luggage to where Latias and the girl once waited for me, I turned back towards the empty terminal, and called out once more. "Latias! Where are you?!"

"She isn't here." I almost jumped at the sudden voice behind, it wasn't Latias, neither was it the girl or anyone else I knew. Turning my head, my eyes widened at what I saw, it that female Mew I saw near Driftveil City, the same one that created that nightmare world, where I saw my friends die, Latias die… She was a member of Team Doom!

Grabbing my scalchop and activating my Razor Shell, I pointed the top of the move at chest where her heart was. "Where is she? What have you done with her? Where is Latias?!"

The Mew looked down at the Razor Shell for a moment before speaking. "I do not wish to cause you any harm, Zack. My name is Jessica… a-and I am a member of Team Doom, number five, and I am here to tell you something, t-to warn you of Shiny Latias' plans I mean." She bit her lip as she spoke, glancing over her shoulders from time to time while constantly shaking.

I had no reason to listen to her words; I almost killed myself believing I had just lost everything in that world. The things she showed me, she could easily kill my friends without a second thought. "Like I would listen to the likes of you, a member of Doom!"

"You don't understand. I am not here to hurt you or your friends, I only want to warn you of Shiny Latias. I do not follow her…" She turned her head down at the marbled floor. "She's a monster…"

"This is kind of how it played out last time we met." I said, cautiously watching her movements as I prepared to strike. "You talking like this, then next minute I see these hallucinations of things that aren't there."

Jessica turned her head up to look at me. "I know what I did to you was wrong back when you and I crossed paths… b-but you see- I mean it wasn't like I had a choice. Shiny Latias ordered me to test out my ability on you, otherwise she'd kill me."

"Maybe she should have done!" I shouted. But she snapped back with…

"I didn't want to be a member of Team Doom! I had no choice! I never had a choice with them or Team Annihilation… I just, I was pushed here and there…" She allowed the tears to fall. I lowered my Razor Shell, but still kept it active in case she tries anything. "All my life I have been with them, when all I have ever wanted was a normal life. I know Team Doom are evil, I know they have killed countless lives by a psychotic Shiny Latias smiling every time she takes someone's life, but I could never leave knowing they were still doing this, I wanted to stop them, but Shiny Latias has this power that makes her powerful… one look and she can do whatever she wants with you while you remain powerless to fight back. I hate it there, I hate them…" she cried.

I didn't respond to that, instead I just listened to her words. Her words, it was like she was being honest with me, that her sadness was real, that she didn't want to fight me, but I wasn't sure if this was real or just another lie.

"Please, I beg of you to escape while you still can. Shiny Latias desires to kill you, but not before she gets to your friends, family and allies first. Y-you don't understand how powerful she truly is, your power isn't enough to stop her."

"I can stop her." I said scoffing at the idea thinking Super Latias couldn't be stopped. "She isn't powerful, she's just an ordinary Pokemon like the others, I can do this. Being a legendary Pokemon doesn't mean she is all powerful and unstoppable."

"Do you know what happens when you defeat a Pokemon in battle?" She asked, lowering herself in front of me, allowing the tip of the Razor Shell to touch her neck. "Do you know what happens to the defeated Pokemon after you render them unable to fight? A Pokemon defeated by you has their energy completely drained into you, killing them while you gain their strength making you stronger. Shiny Latias wants you to kill us; she wants you to get stronger so she can use you as a weapon, a weapon she wants to use." I could feel through my scalchop nudge back a little when Jessica pushed herself into the Razor Shell drawing a little blood from her neck. Quickly, I stopped using Razor Shell and returned the scalchop to my fur. She looked up at me, tears dripping from her face. "I don't want to fight you Zack, I want to help."

She was right about that absorbing part; when I defeated that Growlithe by slamming it into the wall rendering it unconscious, its energy absorbed into me, healing my wounds making me feel awake in a way. But I could still remember the face it made when I drained its life away, would it happen the same way should I defeat the other numbered members of Team Doom?

"Why?" I asked, still unsure if what Jessica was even saying were true or just lies to start up another realistic nightmare world again. "You're a member of Team Doom, the same people who killed my mom! Killed so many innocent people, The Savior's of the Unova region are dying out, people I have worked alongside with all these years, why should I trust? The last time you and I met near Driftveil, you created that horrible world… " The thought of Latias appearing dead just like in that nightmare world came to mind, my friends, their screams… I never wanted to see that ever again.

Suddenly, Jessica got on her knees and tilted her head down, at first I wasn't sure what she was doing, but then I noticed something on top of her head, three long scars almost spread across her head. "She did that to me, the moment I became… this. She told us her plan to use us as a sacrifice to help you become stronger. We would battle you, lose the fight and you would kill us but not before absorbing our strength first. I was scared, angry that I didn't have a choice on the matter, I wanted to live. They told me I couldn't go back, but I refused to listen… then she did this to me, I woke up a week after that in the medical wing. Always reminded how being a sacrifice all to make you stronger was my fate…"

"A-are you telling me the truth?" I asked her, her head still faced down to the ground. "Do you really want to help? Or are you just here sent by her to kill me? Use your powers to play around with me like Team Doom has for some time now? No matter what you say or do, I can't abandon my search for them, for Shiny Latias. After what they did, I can't walk away now."

"I do want to help." She replied, facing the ground a little more until she lift up her head to face mine. "It's because you oppose her, and I want to help you take her down. I am telling you the truth. Team Doom needs to be stopped. Shiny Latias needs to be stopped before her plan succeeds. Maybe we can help each other out."

"What do you mean by helping each other out?"

"I know it's not much but I can help you along the way. I can give you updates on what Shiny Latias and Team Doom are up to. Locations of Doom camps scattered throughout the region, cities and towns where Doom members are in waiting for you to arrive to ambush you. I can give you this information every time we meet up so you and your friends can have a safer journey." She stood up from the floor facing me. "In Opelucid city, when you and your friends arrive there, I'll show you where the hideout of Team Doom is." Opelucid city… so that's where they were hiding.

"But I must ask you to do something for me, don't tell the others about us. I am contacting you through other ways; no one knows I am doing this. You must keep our conversation private. Shiny Latias if she found out about us, I can only imagine what she might do. Can you promise me you won't tell anyone?" She asked me, I nodded my head and said I would keep my promise not to tell anyone. Although I wanted to, this could be a trap and I was playing right into it, and that I should at least warn the others about it. But I couldn't risk it; I had to stay silent and to trust her.

But one thing I had to know was when Jessica would be giving me these updates, and where. "You said you would give me updates, where would we be meeting up next?"

"Soon. Just keep going as you are now, with your team with you and your strength now, you'll be just fine." She said, closing her eyes now. "But when something comes up, I will let you know."

I remembered what I said to her before, and felt regret on what I said to her. "Hey uh, I'm sorry what I said before, about saying Shiny Latias should've killed you. It's just um, I…"

She shook her head. "It's alright, you don't have to apologize. Stay safe Zack, we'll see each other again soon." Then immediately as she finished those words, a flash of light surrounded me blinding me of my vision.

* * *

I blinked as the bright light faded from my eyes as I was now looking right up at a blue sky with small clouds instead. I was lying down on the grass. I was back, back at the park again and not at the airport in front of the Mew. I turned my head to see Latias beside me lying on the grass looking up pointing at the clouds in the sky with a smile. I was happy too, and watched the clouds with her for the remainder of our stay here at the park.

I didn't know if i could trust Jessica or not, i was still cautious of her. If she was telling me the truth, that she actually wanted to help me, then our mission to defeat Team Doom will be quick and easier, but if she was lying to me, leading me into a trap, i would have to be ready, to train as hard as i could should an ambush lie ahead.

Opelucid city, I would get there in under a week, in under a week our battle with Team Doom will start, our battle against Shiny Latias will start, after all this time since Doom became my enemy I felt a little closer on finally reaching an end and a start to a life I wanted to live.

To be continued...

**Trivia:**

Originally Jessica wasn't featured in this chapter at all and instead appears in a later chapter almost near the end of the story. But instead of having her as a character that appears three or four times i decided to change things up with her and include her more into the story.


	27. Chapter 27 Secret

Chapter 27 – Secret

* * *

**Icirrus City – Pokemon Center**

Following Jessica's advice for travelling to the next city, we managed to get past several Team Doom lookout points all waiting to ambush us. Not only was I surprised with our ambush free day, but the others were also surprised at my 'random' directions I took throughout route 07 that we didn't encounter anyone. Sakura herself thought that within route 07 that we would get ambushed or encounter a member of Doom or at least find a few signs on occasions that Doom where there. At first I was unsure if I could trust her word and that if I followed her instructions I would reach the city without any encounters. So she told me the truth about that route, and our next location for her to meet me and update me on what Doom is planning and what the next area has in store for me. I would have to stay cautious at all times around her, never for a single moment could I ever lower my guard whenever I am with her. Sure she could be telling me the truth one moment, gain my trust first or something. But after so many times of telling me the truth, then it'll be probably a stab in the back for me. Icirrus City was our next destination, I was instructed by Jessica to wait there and rest for the night before we set out as early as possible to avoid anymore confrontations with Team Doom soldiers moving in towards Mistralton City. If none of the Team Doom soldier's saw us while passing through route 07, then they would believe we hadn't come this far already. We could rest in peace for a while; recover our wounds, restock our supplies and be ready. If we encounter no Doom member throughout our passing through the region until we reached Opelucid City, we could ambush Team Doom and take them down once and for all, but that would all be determined whether or not I could trust her.

Sakoto, Herman, Elijah, and Doug after speaking with them yesterday all agreed to team up with us again for another mission. Our time together was short and I expected them to just say, 'Maybe we'll run into each other someday' and that would be it, but no, they told me themselves that they would be happy to work alongside with me in our next mission together. I was unsure when we would see each other again, but soon we would to take down Team Doom, perhaps near Opelucid.

Icirrus City was a slightly smaller city than Mistralton and Castelia city, a few tall buildings here and there with a train line connecting to all over Unova and beyond if you had the money of course. The entire city were covered in blankets of deep snow, snow on the ground deep enough I had a little trouble on walking through for how high it was, almost enough to reach my stomach.

If I were still human being out in this snow, in the cold, fresh snow touching my bare body I would be freezing by now desperate to find warmth to escape the cold, but I barely felt the cold that much, because of my new form, my fur on my body made it so that I would be warm enough to withstand the cold long enough to survive. But another thing about being out in the elements, rain seems to power up my moves since I am of course part water type, but being as though we are out in the snow covered city, it was affecting one of our Pokemon, and not in a way I had expected since she had been out in the snow before and seemed to enjoy herself al out despite being weak to that element; Latias. Normally Latias could last quite a long time out in the snow, even play in it without the snow affecting her, but as immediately as we had entered the city, Latias had slowed down trailing a little far back, looking exhausted as her ears began to droop, then breathing heavily. Not long before we noticed, she had fainted, falling down onto the snow.

Now we were here at the Pokemon center waiting for Latias to make a full recovery. "I'm sorry; I didn't want to slow you all down… not with Doom on our tails… i guess I didn't realize too much on our surroundings... " She coughed before adjusting her blankets to get warm in her bed. "I was like this before when we where in route 07, but i thought it would go away quickly, i guess it didn't, huh."

"Just because we are being chased by Team Doom doesn't mean we should ignore our health." I said helping Latias with her blankets by covering up her exposed tail fins. "If you had said something before we would've stopped and rested up before moving on." Latias closed her eyes and nodded. I stroked her head, kissing her on the cheek before backing away towards the door before remembering one of our other reasons for coming here.

"Well you just rest up. I'm going to go out and restock on our supplies; food, medical, and batteries for our flashlights. We are running low on them."

"Don't to you worry 'bout a thing, I'll keep an eye on Latias here." Espeon called out before I reached the door. Espeon began stroking Latias' head. "You have fun, take your time, me and Latias here will have loads of fun. Isn't that right Latias?" But Latias' only reply was a barely coherent mumbling as she sank her face into the soft pillows before quickly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

**Icirrus City – Western Street**

Another reason for me to be outside and away from them was to check on something else; to check the surrounding area and the city as much as I could for any signs of Team Doom. Jessica told me there would be none here for three days providing us with enough time to rest up, but I had to check unsure whether or not she was telling me the truth about Team Doom not being here. But how would I find them?

"You know, the store is back that way. You're going the opposite way towards the way we came in." I turned and saw Sakura standing behind with Isaac beside her. "Looking out for members of Team Doom?"

I nodded, retuning my gaze back towards the street we came down not long ago searching for any signs of Team Doom beyond. "Just a side thing before and after I gather our supplies. We can't be too careful. Just because we didn't encounter any members of Team Doom back in route 07 doesn't mean we shouldn't ignore this place."

"I have to say, after going through that route without ever seeing so much as a helmet peeking out of the bushes, we must be very lucky or Doom weren't ever there… I hope Doom was waiting for us inside that route and not waiting for us here, walking into a trap." Isaac said, walking up beside me and starring down at the direction we had entered through the city. I wanted to tell them about Jessica and how my direction through the route wasn't a random direction I took. But if what Jessica told me was true, that there wouldn't be any Doom member here, and then what was stopping me from telling them? She said that I shouldn't talk about it ot the others because someone might be listening and it would blow her cover. But if there weren't any Doom members here, why couldn't I tell them? We weren't in any danger here.

"Do you guys remember the last time we were at this city?" Isaac asked us as we gathered around him, both nodding remembering our first time here. "Well there was this little girl who was sick, but the herbs the girl needed to be cured had run out of stock, so the closest herb around was inside this cave with many Zubat's. So after we got inside, a little deeper into the cave we had found the herb and had to fight our way out."

"Really… was that how it went down? I believe I recall it wasn't a Zubat we fought it was a Golbat, a really giant one, and after defeating it, it escaped out of a hole with the other Zubat's." Sakura thought about that moment when we entered the cave. "And then we brought the herb back to the doctor and it helped save the girl in the end, right?"

Isaac nodded and continued. "Right. You know, I did return to this city two weeks after we had defeated Team Annihilation and after we had gone on our own separate ways. Entered the clinic to check in on them and talking to the very same doctor who treated the girl. I found out that the girl and her parents moved to a different region a month after we left this city. But the doctor did say that the little girl's parents were very grateful, saying they wanted to do something to thank me and you guys for saving their daughter. But I made it obvious while speaking on our behalf that we didn't need anything and seeing that little girl alive and well was better than any reward they could give. I'm pretty sure the doctor passed on the message, wherever they are now. Hope they are doing well."

All three of us glanced up at the sky after hearing the loud calling of many Pidove's passing the city overhead towards the southern parts of the Unova region. "I may have said this before, but did you know that on this time every year, it is said by many that a legendary Pokemon can be seen flying over the region. From Black City my home, Icirrus city, until it finally reaches as far as Castelia City disappearing over the horizon only to be seen again the next year or so. Many have speculated that it's either Reshiram or Zekrom, a foreign Pokemon from another region. Would be nice to actually see it, whatever it is." I did remember that, it started as a rumor going around the entire region; sights of a large Pokemon of some kind flying through the region of Unova once every year or two. I had never seen it myself, only heard through other people, my mom, and a few other members of the Savior's telling stories about seeing something up there not knowing what kind of Pokemon it actually was.

Walking to the store to restock on our supplies, store a little bit back into the main street of the city and one of the few to purchase everything we could ever want for the duration of our journey, well until we reach the next city that is, me and Sakura waited outside leaning against a railing across the street from the store Isaac went in to purchase our supplies. On this side of the street, it had less snow than near the store, because of the open vent had melted away at the snow providing us with a little warmth and a snowless street to wait on.

"Hey Zack, we're friends right?" Sakura said, rubbing her hands together to stay warm. I was confused by this, pausing for a moment unsure as to why she had asked this. Of course we were friends, we had kept in touch all of these years apart, and being together with Isaac again, our original team I felt that we were closer than before.

"Sakura, of course we are. Why do you ask?" I asked looking up at her as she leaned her back against the railings.

"Well, I need your advice with something. It's about my college; you know the one where I am studying to become a nurse at the center near my hometown? But… it's just that I… w-what was it… unsure? Scared? No, that isn't it…" She began, often pausing in between each sentence. I wasn't sure if she couldn't find the correct words, that I should speak up and help her rather than make her find the words herself. "Excited I believe. Excited that I am getting close. Close on getting what I want. I have high scores on each of my written tests and practical tests, and with three more I think that'll be it, that I'll be a nurse soon. But in two weeks tomorrow, I'll have to go back and-" She shook her head. "No, I won't abandon you. Because of Team Doom, they took away your mom. We're friends, and besides, if it were my mom they killed-"

"Then you'd know I would help you." I interrupted her, finishing her sentence. She smiled and nodded. "But this is something you wanted for a long time, isn't it? You shouldn't be out here risking your life. Why not go back with Isaac and let me, Espeon and Latias handle this?"

"After everything we have been through together, it's the least I can do after everything you did to help me." She sighed. "Before you and I met near Accumula Town, I was lost, I had no direction in mind carelessly wandering here and there hoping to find an answer, find anything to guide me in the right direction. Then when I met you, not only did I find my way in the end, what I wanted to do, but it helped me come to terms with my past."

"Do you remember what I told you about me when I was young?" She asked. I nodded in response. I remembered how she once told me how her father would hurt Sakura and her mother every time it rained. She never explained why he did that, only when it was raining and no other. "When that man I once called my dad hurt my mom, for so long I have thought about that moment and my mind was… locked on that refusing to focus on something else, my future. But when you came into my life, when Isaac came into my life, you two helped me remember what my original dream was; to help Pokemon. My Minccino was my first ever Pokemon. She stayed with me all this time; she was one of the many who helped me remember what I wanted to do. If it hadn't been for you guys, I would still be lost…" Sakura turned to me and said with a confident smile. "So until Team Doom is defeated, I will help you, no matter how long that takes. What kind of friend would I be if I just abandoned you?" I smiled in return.

"Yo!" Isaac called to us from the stores open door. "I got the supplies plus something extra. Let's go back and get our rooms broken in. C'mon!"

"Race ya!" Sakura suddenly said before she ran ahead leaving me behind.

"H-hey, no fair! You're taller than me!" We laughed as we ran towards Isaac, also joining in on the race back to the center, throwing snowballs at one another to slow the other down.

Dreams on becoming a nurse to help Pokemon, dreams on finding an herb said to allow humans on understanding and communicating with Pokemon, dreams of a future where we could have everything we could ever hoped for, a peaceful life just over the horizon can come crashing down in an instant. Being together with them after so many years apart, I thought all of us together our dreams could become a reality; we could achieve them all at the same time without the other being far behind or a dream unattainable in the end… all we could do was continue on to our fated destinations.

* * *

**Pokemon Center – Infirmary – Espeon's POV**

So Isaac and Sakura both left the center together to follow Zackary leaving me alone with Latias still sleeping peacefully in her bed... or not so long since she immediately woke up with a loud yawn. "Oh hey, did you rest well?" I asked her, patting her head as she came to, a sleep which lasted for an hour now. "You must be pretty hungry. I'll get you a bowl of delicious Pokeblock's and fruit. Maybe I'll throw in a berry or two"

"Sounds good to me..." She yawned, still resting her head on the pillow, blinking away at the sleep in her eyes. I walked towards a button at the side of the room, a button to call for the nurse to come in. "Where is Zack? And what happened to Sakura and Isaac?"

After pressing the button with my Psychic, I turned my head back to her. "Don't you worry about them. Zack is getting the supplies for our search for Team Dumdum. And as for Sakura and Isaac, they are following Zack. So it's just you and me for some girl time." After walking over and lying down beside Latias' bed, the nurse Joy of the center came over to us asking what we needed. Expecting to use gestures and charades to communicate with us, I of course used my second language (human) and asked for some food for us. this however created a little shock for the nurse upon hearing me speak, but quickly exited the room to get ourselves some food.

"You know Espeon, I was jealous of you." Latias said, lifting up her head from the pillow and stretching out her neck hearing a few bones pop… huh, that was a rare sound from her.

"What were you jealous of?" I asked her, almost knowing the answer myself, an obvious one when other Pokemon see me talk to humans.

"You could speak to humans." She said, craning her head up to get a look out of the window where we could see a fine view of the city from here. "Every time you spoke to people, and Zack I wanted to speak to him, to tell him so much."

"Well you know, I get the whole privacy and you wanting to speak to him without another translating, but I could've tried to teach you. You could've asked."

"I know, but I also feared you would've tried to get to ask why I wanted to learn. You would probably realize that I was in love with Zack making things awkward between us, I feared of judgement from others…" Latias hung her head down, but after leaning on the side of the bed with both of my paws, she shyly turned towards me.

"Latias, I am one of your many friends who would never do that to you. I told you before; I support you and your relationship with Zackary. If you had a reason other than wanting to communicate with another, I would never pry into anyone else's business I don't go running around town bursting out loud everyone's secrets. So just remember this; if you have any other secret you have to tell someone, think of me as… kind of like a… um, that thing where people talk to another and what has been said cannot leave the room? What is that called? Well anyway, just so you know, whatever you tell me I won't let anyone in on it if you don't want me to." I smiled, wrapping both of my forelegs around her neck. She hugged me back. "So, have any juicy secrets you want off of your chest?"

Latias let me go from the hug, but her face glowed as she closed her eyes and tried to hide her face behind her paws. Yep, she was definitely hiding something. But before she could say anything about it, or try and stop me from asking, the nurse came in with a large bowl of fruits of different varieties for us to share... oh great, I love to share(!)

"Here you are a bowl of delicious fruits grown right here in Icirrus city's greens garden." She smiled kneeling down and setting the bowl in between me and Latias who grabbed a few of them, chewing down on them greedily. The nurse watched her eat and stroked her neck. In the other hand, I noticed she had a clipboard with a document attached with the words 'Latias'

"What's that?" I asked, using my paw to touch the clipboard to pull her out of the nurse's gaze obviously amazed at Latias.

"Oh this? This is a file on Latias here." She said lifting it up towards her faces, flicking through to the next page. "It says Latias will be making a full recovery by tomorrow, that there isn't anything seriously wrong with her, but-" She paused suddenly, her eyes stuck on something on the clipboard while her smile widened, it widened so much to that of a 'huh?' reaction coming from me and Latias as to why she was smiling like that for. Most likely because Latias was a legendary or that she thought she was cute or something, but it was something else, something Latias was about to tell me. "But uh… congratulations, you're pregnant."

The room fell silent, both of our mouths were open wide and it felt as if time itself had paused. I was shocked to hear that coming from the nurse quickly yanking the clipboard out of her hands to see if she was right. 'Latias is pregnant?' I thought all while I was searching for that word to confirm it… 'Pregnant' Latias was pregnant, there written in purple (who writes in purple on a medical document?) next to Latias' status. Latias leaned her head towards the clipboard I had held within my Psychic grasps and she clasped both paws over her mouth and gasped aloud followed by an excited shrieking laugh… right down my ears… thank you Latias(!)

"Hey, congrats Latias!" I congratulated her, passing the nurse back her clipboard and lightly shook Latias with my paws. Latias blushed and smiled back, starting to tear up on having heard the sudden news.

"Where is the father so we can give him the news?" The nurse asked, darting her head in multiple directions, not stopping for some odd reason. What, was she some kind of video game character awaiting a button input or something?

"Well you see, my trainer/best friend Zackary just went outside to get some items for our journey. He should be back anytime soon if you want to wait."

"Trainer? W-wait, This Zackary is a hum-" But before she could finish with that question, I immediately interrupted her with…

"Oh yeah, these two are in love with one another. I was surprised at first but then quickly accepting of their relationship because of not of the power of friendship like most clichés have in these kind of things, but by the bond they have. A bond so powerful it helped create soon a new life for the world to witness-"

***THUD***

Looking back to where the nurse had kneeled down, me and Latias saw the nurse collapsed on the floor knocked out cold with her clipboard still grasped in her hand. "Huh, the Nurse Joy fainted… I wonder what's up with her. Maybe I should've mentioned to her that Zackary is a Pokemon, after all Zackary is a human's name… fucking whoops. Somebody call an ambulance!" I yelled out into the hallway for someone to show up, but nobody did so I just ignored her and wanted to know more of this thing going on with Latias, details! "So Latias, how long ago did this happen? I mean, when did you and Zackary uh… conceive? Is that the correct word?"

"It was in Mistralton City when we first arrived." She replied sounding a lot more nervous with each word escaping her mouth. Often trying to hide her face behind her bed sheets, but every time she tried the bed sheets would fall, revealing a blushing Latias.

"So, who made the first move?" I said smirking a little and raising my eye lids halfway hoping Latias would tell me more. And she did.

"Um… it was Zack. Although he was very nervous about it, but then afterwards he was fine with it, and so was I… um, yeah…" She smiled nervously after telling me all of that; although I got to say, it was cute seeing her like this. I never expected me and her to be talking about this kind of thing ever during our time together. I'm not saying Latias is the kind of Pokemon who would never get into a relationship with anyone, I just never expected us to talk about relationships.

"Alright! Way to go Zackary!" I cheered, but then suddenly I realized that since she was pregnant now, she shouldn't be out here with us. "But wait a sec! Now that you and I know you are pregnant, you can't stick around for the battle with Team Doom; being pregnant I uh think… um, it makes you feel sick I guess? Fatigued? Well anyway, you could get hurt or killed when fighting. You're pregnant, and battling isn't exactly a thing an upcoming mother should be doing."

"I know, but I can't leave. Shiny Latias is the only family member I have left, my sister. I know what terrible thing she has done, and I know it's stupid of me for saying this but I believe I can talk to her, try and convince her to stop the fighting. I want to prevent more unnecessary bloodshed." But she killed Zackary's mom, just snapped her neck. What was the point on trying to talk some sense into her, she is obviously beyond saving.

"Well what if you can't stop her? What if Shiny Fati-ass refuses to listen and tries to kill you and the others? Are you still going to try to make her listen? How many times are you willing to try to talk some sense into a murderous Pokemon? She killed Zackary's mom. You know, the same woman who looked after you since you were young, when you first met Zackary?"

"I…" The sighed sadly, "I don't know, but when we see each other again. I want to try and talk to her." I nodded, but I was doubtful, doubtful that Shiny Latias could even be talked out of what she was already doing.

"Espeon, please don't tell Zack or anyone else about this or even make a reference to it. I want to tell him soon." She sighed, looking a little more exhausted than before. So I had to make this quick and let her rest.

"Don't worry Latias, I won't tell Zackary or make a slight hint here or there. But please listen when I say this, when we finally approach Team Doom don't get yourself killed by rushing in. We're a team, and a team sticks together."

Latias smiled and moved in to hug me, and I hugged back with my forelegs around her neck thick. "Thank you Espeon, you're a good friend."

Later, Zackary and friends had returned from there supply run, gathering many items, both medical and food we would definitely need. Latias made a speedy recovery and would be all set for tomorrow with strength ready to fight. And a nurse Joy who was later saved by a passing assistant also named Joy helped her up off the floor and into the back for some loving. I don't know, use your imagination. That's what I do most of the time.

That was the day I had learnt Latias was pregnant, and with honesty I kept my word and didn't tell Zackary that he was going to be a dad. I was waiting for Latias to tell him that. But one thing though, I was worried about her, worried when the fighting with Team Doom would start up again, with Shiny Latias. She said it herself that she wanted to face Shiny Latias and 'talk' it out with her. Shiny Latias was a violent and dangerous Pokemon, the stories I had heard about her, the reports all detailing every little thing she had done to enemies or traitors within her operation. I fear what Latias was trying to do was pointless and it may even end up with her dead. I had hoped Latias would reconsider on fighting with her sister, hoped that even if they did see each other again there wouldn't be any fighting.

To be continued...

* * *

**Trivia:**

This chapter was originally meant to be set within Mistralton city and not Icirrus City. The reason for the change was because Mistralton was too far away from the finale location of the story.


	28. Chapter 28 Identity

Chapter 28 - Identity 

* * *

**Team Doom HQ – Courtyard – Jessica's POV**

It was risky when I approached him, if someone saw me talk to him to warn him about Team Doom I know one thing for certain is that Shiny Latias would kill me, not before she punishes me first in her own twisted 'fun' little way she does to all traitors of Doom. Shiny Latias had to be stopped, even if I would get caught in the end, even if what I did helped Zack and his friends in any way get closer on defeating Team Doom, at least I could happily die knowing he could stop them for good.

After Zack and his friends had escaped Mistralton and were in Icirrus city by now, Shiny Latias had ordered almost half of her soldiers to find them, enraged on how Zack managed to somehow escape Team Doom within Mistralton city. Not one sighting of Zack and his friends were ever seen within route seven despite having a somewhat good setup within the route... well actually the soldiers stationed at the roads only and not anywhere deeper within the route so it wasn't that good.

The courtyard of this horrible place were filled with the usual bunch I see almost every day here when I originally thought that I had found the only place here except for my room and the library that I could have peace and alone time without interruption, but of course those locations had to be discovered by soldiers who don't even know how to keep their voices down, screaming and shouting, and laughing at whatever amuses them thinking they have found easy targets to play around with. this place was somewhat smaller than what I originally thought all courtyards were a little bit larger than this. a place big enough to hold several trucks and cargo at least, looked like the size of a warehouse. The only thing besides trucks, cargo and idiotic soldiers, the only thing I liked about this place was the sky above I liked to watch.

I sat beside the courtyard wall near one of the Team Doom's trucks trying to remain hidden amongst the other idiots within the courtyard. When I was young I rarely ever saw the sky or even go outside, only saw it on videos, photos, heard about the sky from passing soldiers or the other children at Team Annihilation. I can vaguely remember my first reaction to it; scared at first thinking I would be pulled into it or something, heh, but I got over that after a few attempts and looking up at it through a window at first and then when I had finally got to go outside for the first time. that memory of looking up at the sky was something I had wanted to put into the memory I had placed Zack inside when we met in Mistralton city airport, instead of those people from my youth, refusing to listen to me whenever I wanted something, like wanting to know where my parents where or whenever I was lost at the old base. I hated how I did that, I had to involve those people. Hated how I showed him a memory of my childhood appearance.

Thinking back to when I first met Zack, instructed by Shiny Latias to use my power on him to remind him the reason he was out here, I didn't tell anyone about what I did, but I kissed him. _'Why did I do that?'_ I thought my head still turned up at the sky, attempting to ignore the shouting from the soldiers still. When I activated my power for Zack to live in a nightmare world, I watched as Zack ran through the forest chasing after an illusion of Latias only to find her dead by the paws of her sister Shiny Latias. _'Maybe it's because Zack opposes Shiny Latias, the one Pokemon I hate here within Doom, or maybe it was because Zack was one of the first Pokemon who were ever nice to me.'_ I remembered when we first met; he asked if I wanted to go with them. Remembering his words, I wondered what would've happened if I did decide to go with him. _'If I hate this place, why do I stay?'_

"Where have you been?" A voice called in front of me. I didn't need to look down from the beautiful sky to see Ren glaring as usual. I sighed, and chose to ignore him and try as I could to watch the sky peacefully, but with him around, peace never came.

"Rumor has been going around that you have been sneaking off out of here without permission. Now I really don't care what you do for your alone time, everybody needs it now and then otherwise we'll all go mad around here. It's just that you always head in the direction of where Zack was last spotted at; Mistralton City. Ever since our Doom soldiers have lost sight of him since the attack on Mistralton City, Zack and his allies haven't been seen since. Now why is that?" He asked.

I continued to look up at the sky, trying to remain calm, remain as still as I could without looking too suspicious. In my head I was panicking. Scared that someone did see me in Mistralton city, someone saw me and heard me talk with Zack. Shiny Latias if she knew what I was doing… she would kill me. Turning my head down to face Ren, I swallowed and shrugged. "Sightseeing… just sightseeing. Why can't I get out of this place whenever I want?"

"So did you see him?" He asked, leaning his back against the truck tires and crossing his arms across his chest. "Surely if these soldiers didn't find him within Mistralton city, you must've saw him since you can fly giving you a bird's eye view of everything from above."

I shook my head and returned my gaze up towards the sky. "I didn't see him or his friends. Maybe he is still in Mistralton, maybe hiding in some building the soldier's haven't looked in yet."

Ren sighed and shook his head before turning his head toward me again, looking at me suspiciously. He couldn't have known about me talking with Zack, I made sure of it that I wasn't followed, I'm not that stupid. "Wherever he is, he'll be found."

But if he did follow me or knew that I did talk to Zack, why hasn't he done anything yet? He would've gone straight to Shiny Latias and I would be face to face with her instead of him. Maybe Ren doesn't know about me talking with Zack, and I wanted it to stay that way. "Yes, then he'll die for what he did to us." I had only lost my parents, but I didn't hate Zack of his friends for that, they didn't act like loving parents or treated me as if I were their daughter, only as young child growing up to become a soldier with the other children, so screw 'em. I only pretended that I did to join in on the bandwagon of Team Doom to earn something out of it, companionship maybe. If I said I didn't hate Zack, and then things might have been bad for me here, maybe I would've been the first to be sacrificed, or tortured at least. So every now and then I would remind them of my so-called 'hatred' for Zack, and my parents I 'missed' dearly.

Ren turned his head, but I could still feel his eyes on me. "Have you heard about what has happened to Nathaniel?"

"Everyone has. The last time I saw him he was throwing around furniture in his room, hurting anyone who dared enter or tried to stop him from creating holes in walls." I said, remembering back to how Nathaniel yesterday broke his bedroom window with his own fire type moves. His entire room was charred black; nothing remained but burnt furniture and books.

"It's a shame to go out like that. it really is. I am not sure why Shiny Latias wants Zack to absorb our powers, but whatever she has planned, good for Team Doom or for herself, I will not become a sacrifice for her or anyone else. I only joined this place to get these powers to take down Zack, and not be killed by him. I am pretty sure everyone else feels the same way. Look at Nathaniel, he's angry about the whole thing, not sure why he doesn't escape while he's still breathing. But then again, Shiny Latias is always watching us, don't you agree Jessica?" He looked at me again, with the same look. But I had enough of this. Levitating up, I flew by past him wanting to go to my room, I had to meditate and to calm my mind at least, but then Ren chuckled before saying.

"Well if you don't mind, I too am going to go as well. Where might one ask? Well, I feel as though I'll be walking towards Tubeline Bridge, check out that amazing sea water below. What do you think? Sounds like a good place to walk around?" If Zack followed my instructions, he and his friends would be arriving there within two hours, an hour walk away from here. No other Doom soldier would be within that area, knowing Ren, he usually takes his time away from HQ, Zack and Ren would surely see each other and they would fight. There would be no way to get in contact with him to warn him. I couldn't leave.

Calmly, I turned back at Ren and smiled. "Sounds like a nice walk. Be careful, and try not to draw in any unwanted attention. Those Savior trash are still out there looking for us." At that, I turned back around and levitated at an average speed towards the front doors of the base. On the outside, my expression was calm, but on the inside I was anxious, scared that Ren already knew about us, I mean why would he just randomly go for a walk where I knew Zack soon would be at? _'It's just a coincidence.'_ I thought as I levitated past the corridors and up the stairs towards my room. _'B-but if it isn't and Ren is going up there to check if Zack and his friends would show up to confirm that I was betraying them, they would come for me.'_

Inside my room I sat on my bed and quickly entered that state most Psychic types call the dark place, I had to prepare myself, get stronger with my attacks should they find out about my conversation with Zack.

* * *

****

**Tubeline Bridge**

After Latias was better and well rested for us to head out and continue on towards Opelucid City, we had a rare moment on our journey; one were we could have a walk throughout the region without fearing an ambush from Team Doom. Soon we would arrive in route 09, but first we had to cross the Tubeline Bridge, a somewhat peaceful and quiet ten minute walk across despite the noisy trains underneath and the few people looking over the railings down at the water below.

Ever since Latias got better, for some reason she had been smiling a lot lately, Espeon too as they each cast each other looks, smiling and giggling when they saw me look over at them with a confused look. I wasn't sure what that was about, even when I asked they just replied with the likes of 'Girls only, no boys allowed.' followed quickly by another giggle, so I just chose not to et them have their fun and to face forward towards route 09, anxious to walk through that route and then we would finally be in Opelucid city, from there I would meet Jessica again and then soon she would reveal to me the location of Team Doom. It wouldn't be an easy fight, but deep down I knew we would come out of this together.

"Ah, I just realized something!" Isaac suddenly spoke up alerting all of us as we stopped to check up on him for his sudden shouting. "I forgot to check out the book store back in Icirrus City. There was this really neat herb and flower book I wanted to check out. I probably would've bought it and read it on the way."

"We can come back to Icirrus after we have dealt with Team Doom. I'm sure it'll still be there. Don't worry about it." Sakura reassured him while patting him on the back. Isaac smiled back and was the first of us to walk on ahead with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Yeah! I can always find that book even if it has gone out of stock when we get back to Icirrus. Man, I can imagine it now; us out there within the Unova region searching all over for the herb. Me as the leader with a book of herbs and flowers in hand and paper and pen in the other, while you guys will carry our equipment for me." He then started to laugh loudly. It was kind of similar to how Dewott back at the Pokemon laboratory in Nuvema town laughed at his own joke he told us, it was just as loud and how it drew a lot of attention from people nearby.

"Hey! We're not your servants!" I argued playfully. "You're the one making us come with you, dragging us all over Unova in search of your herb. So you'll be the one who will be carrying the supplies."

"Yes Isaac, it is you who should carry the supplies. For I am too frail and don't have that much muscle on me to bear the weight of our sleeping bags and cooking pots…" Sakura said in a fake weak voice as she held up both of her hands up for Isaac to see. "Oh woe is me, I'm afraid I can't help… you m-must do it I-Isaac…. Y-you must… ugh… s-so weak!" We then laughed together, obviously not going to load all of the equipment on one person; it would be a team effort. Even despite all of these years apart, we still joked around like we used to back then.

"How sickeningly sweet this is; a bunch of friends hanging out and having a laugh about something that can never be, because I'll be the one to help destroy that future you have planned!" But unfortunately our laughter was cut short by another Dewott standing twenty paces in front of us, the gray furred Dewott I recognized from Driftveil City, a member of Team Doom.

"You!" I spat, almost growling at the sight of a member of Doom here on the bridge. I thought Jessica told me that Team Doom wouldn't be anywhere near here. _'Did she set me up?'_ I thought. _'Did Jessica trick me into believing that she was willing to help me? Why just the Dewott then and not other army of Doom soldier's nearby?'_

"Our soldier's have been searching for you for quite some time now, after pulling a disappearing act on us while we were in the middle of having some fun. Had enough rest for you? Because it may be your last, for you and your friends." a gloating smile crossed his face. The Dewott slowly raised his open paw hovering over his right scalchop.

And without warning, the Dewott suddenly charged right at us while activating his Razor Shell. Quickly, Sakura and Isaac jumped back while me, Espeon and Latias were ready for the attack. The attack from the Dewott missed us, but the Dewott kept slashing away at us with one Razor shell instead of two keeping his other arm folded behind his back like he was fencing or something.

Espeon had harnessed her energy and shot a Psychic directly at the grey Dewott's face, a move which should've sent him flying back, but the move against him didn't do a single thing, because this Dewott was a Dark type and Psychic was weak to Dark types. "Really? That's the best you can do? How pathetic are you!" He taunted. Espeon jumped back at the last second before the Dewott could swing another Razor Shell at her. Espeon ran back to where Isaac and Sakura were at over by the railings of the Tubeline Bridge while I and Latias fought the Dewott with everything we had.

Using Psychic was pointless against this guy, it would only touch him and nothing else leaving us open for a direct attack by the Dewott, well it would've been if not for Latias backing me up. It was Water type moves for me and Dragon type moves for Latias.

Latias used Dragon claw down into the Dewott across his cheek scratching into his skin leaving a fresh three long thick lines of red. The Dewott reacted immediately at this, but not wincing from the pain or stepping back before Latias could assault him again with another Dragon Claw down to scratch his head again, with his scalchop grasped with both of his paws; he slashed upwards cutting Latias across the chest causing her to yelp and levitate back away from Ren as fast as she could as small trinkets of blood dripping onto the ground. This sight had almost made me lose control, I felt my anger rise within me, the voices within my head whenever my anger rose echoed throughout my head all telling me to do either 'kill' or 'make him suffer' no matter what, but I had to stay in control, I had to protect everyone. I charged at the Dewott and with my Razor Shell I slashed at the Dewott as he deflected each hit with his own move. The Dewott then brought out his other Razor Shell with his other paw attempting to trip me up, but instead of jumping out of the way or to block his attack, I stabbed his other arm just before he could swing his Razor Shell across my legs. Blood spurted out from his arm as the Dewott dropped his scalchop, but not before attempting to slash at me one more time before he saw to his wound. Quickly, I evaded the attack by dodge rolling out of the way, preparing my scalchop for the next attack.

"I wonder what would've happened if my Razor Shell cut a few inches deeper into your Latias?" He taunted, wincing every now and again between each word, despite his heavy bleeding at his arm and across his cheek. Latias levitated towards Sakura, Isaac and Espeon to be treated for her wounds. "It could've killed her. a quick death not even you could say your last words to her, or maybe a slow death. A death so slow that you could only watch as your precious Latias slowly died knowing an ambulance wouldn't show up here in time."

The words telling me over and over again to kill the Dewott had slowly quietened down into silence. I wasn't sure how I managed to regain control over myself, to calm myself down. But I still wanted the Dewott to pay for what he had done. I didn't want to kill anyone, I was still a Savior member and I had to stop him.

"But I have to admit that you are quiet skilled for being a Pokemon. what, for like… half a year was it? And you are dating a Latias of all things… huh." He asked, but I remained silent, carefully watching his movements should he attack. "Mom and dad would've been disgusted by that. Maybe little Alison would've took their side over on how you felt towards your Latias."

'_Mom and dad?' _I thought _'Alison? In the files from the Savior's HQ, I read that my mom and dad; Richard and Megumi Raines were killed along with my sister Alison by the leader of Team Annihilation; Juro. What the heck is he talking about?'_

"Confused, eh?" He said. "I figured those Savior fools would've mentioned me in their files they have on us especially members of Team Annihilation. Can't be having files that contain documents on Savior members who are teamed up with Annihilation that wouldn't look too good for them; a star Savior member with help from his friends take down Unova's most 'dangerous' threat Annihilation with a family member working with Annihilation. No, no, we can't have that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Remember what I said before good ol' Nathaniel carried me off out of the city back in Driftveil when we first met? I called you brother. And that is true, you and I Zack we are brothers." I was taken aback by this, confused as to why he would say this, that he and I were brothers. But I didn't have brothers or any other living relatives left in this world besides my adopted dad and sister Yuri. The files I read from the Savior's mentioned nothing about having a brother or that he was working with Annihilation.

"Our parents; Richard and Megumi Raines lived somewhere within Icirrus City along with our sister Alison." He said, slowly returning both of his scalchop's onto his hip fur where they belonged. "Ren Raines is my name if it'll help jog your memory. Maybe even remember when you were young and I was of age I could leave my home to start my own Pokemon journey I talked to you about what I would be doing." But it didn't. I knew nothing of what he was telling me.

"You're lying. I don't have a brother!" I snapped, refusing to believe his words. In the files on my parents, I read that it was just them and my sister Alison, no one else. Surely enough this was some kind of game to play with my emotions. Since I was so close on finding Team Doom they had to go and pull this kind of thing now, but I refused to believe it. "My parent's and my sister died that night Juro came for them just to be used as additions for his undead army." Raising my scalchop with Razor Shell still active and pointing the tip of the move at him. "You won't trick me!"

"Really? Then if you don't believe me, then maybe you should be talking to your friends within the Savior's about it. Maybe that'll jog your memory." His smile returned, and from behind us came the police running towards us. Obviously someone had alerted the police since this bridge had forbidden any trainers from battling up on here. "I guess we'll continue with this battle some other time. So until then, I bid you adieu!" From behind Ren took out three small black balls from his waist fur and threw them on the ground between us. Upon contact with the ground, they burst and a huge cloud of black smoke had covered us entirely, blinding us for a moment before the wind had blown it all away. Ren was already gone, leaving behind a small puddle of blood from where he once stood.

* * *

After an hour of explaining to the police about the confrontation with a member of Team Doom and how we had to defend ourselves, we finally arrived in route 09 to rest up and heal from Ren's attacks and injuries he gave to all except Sakura and Isaac. Espeon had cut both of her forelegs from Ren's Razor Shells, something Espeon claimed to have trouble on walking and required for her to be carried by Isaac until we reached Opelucid city to get treated at the center, something Isaac didn't too much enjoy with. I only got by with a few small scars on my arms and legs, something I wasn't concerned with at all since my main focus was on Latias and her large cut across her chest. Luckily for us and our supply run in Icirrus when Latias was healing up at the center we managed to treat her wounds with a few bottles of Potions and bandages.

Waiting in route 09 I decided was now the best time to talk to Lee about what had happened. I explained to him about how we were attacked by a grey Dewott working with Team Doom going by the name of Ren. I even mentioned how he said that I was his brother. 'Funny story' I said at how pathetic it sounded that this guy lying to me that he and I were brothers. Expecting a chuckle or at least a smile of acknowledgement before I got back to the others; Lee never once smiled, nodded or joked alongside with me. He told me that I should read a document the Savior's had kept hidden from me since I joined up with them, something they have had hidden from me all this time, and now was the right time to tell me. In the document I read from my device, I read about the Dewott Ren, how he joined Team Annihilation, his first years there, and his reasons; he hated his parents after getting into an argument with them about wanting to travel the region thinking that he wasn't old enough. The document got to the part of the page I were reluctant to read, the part where it revealed who his parents were, his family; Raines. He was right, and I thought it was all a lie. Ren is my real brother, and just like with Latias is with Shiny Latias being that she is her only family member she has left, he is the only real family member I have left in this world.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

The idea for Ren as a brother for Zack was not in the original story. Ren never existed in the original and was written in along with some others for the story you are reading now.

**AN: Thanks again for reading the story everyone, I can't thank you all enough for helping me on getting this far. With the story almost at an end, I can safetly say that this story should be about done before december (if my computer doesn't act up again that is.) Take it easy everyone. And until next time.**


	29. Chapter 29 Attack

Chapter 29 – Attack

* * *

****

**Opelucid City**

Nightfall and I was alone in the center. It began with a question on everything I read about the grey Dewott known as Ren, a member of Team Doom; was he really my brother? Then it became; was what I was reading, was it all true? Were any of these files accurate? I stayed in the waiting room all by myself for until I arrived in Opelucid city that afternoon reading over and over again of every document and files the Savior's uncovered from Team Annihilation's old base after they were defeated, and files and documents from Team Doom hideouts. All files and documents I read word by word, every page looking for the answer that I had wanted to know for certain, all of them said that Ren is my brother.

In the documents I also found a brief history of Ren's first five years as a member of Team Annihilation; how he joined, why he joined, his skills he learnt all those years, and all of the missions he participated in from stealing important cargo and items from ships, trucks and inside buildings, to assassination missions. Ren joined because he wanted to find a place to fit in after what he said in the report about his parents;

'_They never listened to what I wanted, I wanted to go out and see the world but they had to keep me here, hold me back and do something better with my life. Dad said I was heading down the path he said I would regret, but being with Annihilation wasn't something I regret on joining. This place, being a part of it, helping out my comrades and accomplishing something out of each mission I complete to bring all of us closer to the promised world. The world outside is a vile place, full of evil, hatred, I want to help rid of all of that by being a proud member of Annihilation. My parents were fools, they tried to pull me back down towards their twisted dark world, but because of Annihilation, they lifted me up and I saw a better future then I could ever have, even more so if I stayed with those fools. I am glad they died, sorry about young Alison and Zack, but at least they died without growing up all corrupted listening to our parent's lies.'_

I didn't know what I would do if he and I met during our attack on Team Doom's HQ, would we fight, or would I try to convince him not to fight? Just like what Latias wanted to do with her sister. I wasn't going to kill Ren, Shiny Latias or anyone, disarm them or find another way to defeat them without rendering them unconscious for me to absorb their energy thus killing them, but the question was how to do it?

Flicking through more pages of one of the many documents on Ren, I stopped at a page marked 'Life within Annihilation' with details on everything he did there by year. Joined Annihilation, learnt hand to hand combat and other useful skills when out on the field, awards and nominations for successful mission, and destroying a freighter all on his own, that was the first year. The second were nearly the same as the first year, all praise and awards for his skill as a soldier of Annihilation. The third year came and his first ever assassination job ended with success, a job many others within Annihilation assumed he wouldn't do a good job at, but he did. His mission was to hunt down some politician in another region and kill him before he left the city. nothing much was revealed as to what he actually did or how he killed the man, but the results revealed that he did his mission all within four hours from receiving a ticket to head towards said region and city to when he got back from his mission at the base. Then he were given more assassination missions and each one ending with the same result as the others; quick.

Throughout my entire life as a member of the Savior's I had never heard of a Ren within Team Annihilation or mentioned by anyone else I ever worked with. Why did they stay silent about it if they knew for this long?

* * *

****

**Just outside Opelucid City**

So many things were happening to me, thoughts of betrayal, and revelations on having a brother, secrets being kept from me, and we were so close on finding Team Doom, I had to try and calm myself down and take it one at a time. a quiet walk outside should help ease my head with all of the questions I wanted answered, it barely did a thing since the questions were all that followed after me since I left the center.

I stopped and sat down leaning against a tree near the road, a little walk away from the city. The road was almost completely void of any life, except for me and one or two people walking in and out of the city. it was a quiet road, and it did give me some time to think about how thing s were with the team.

'_If Team Doom is close by, I'll have to find some way for Sakura and Isaac to leave and let me, Espeon and Latias and the Savior's to handle this, it'll be way too dangerous'_ I thought as I looked up at the moonlit sky. _'They'll most likely fight for them to stay on the team and… go into battle with us, despite their training. They barely ever use their Pokemon that much. Sakura has Minccino with her. Her other Pokemon are back at the laboratory. Isaac has his Yamask and Growlithe… and not once have they released them. They even said it themselves that they aren't battle ready and their Pokemon don't train that often or get into battles. It'll only_ mean death for them if they do come along with us…'

I thought about the things I could say to them for them to leave; being honest with them and tell them straight up that they can't fight since this would be too dangerous for them. I could remind them of the things they want, their dreams just right around the corner, but they wouldn't obtain it if they walked into danger Team Doom would bring. Or another option was to swear at them and say really cruel and nasty things to them, maybe lie to them about facing something which would lead them to their deaths… nah, I wouldn't have done that, it wasn't really who I was. But I wanted to find an alternative and fast.

My thoughts about Sakura and Isaac stopped as I noticed something or someone rustle from the bushes behind me. Standing up and turning around with my paw directly hovering over my scalchop should whoever be behind the bushes were the enemy or someone looking for a fight, instead I got something else, a familiar sight I had expected to see in Opelucid City but only when contacted by her; Jessica.

"There you are. I didn't think I would find you here, especially after-" I interrupted her by quickly holding up my Razor Shell up to her neck, preparing my Psychic by focusing on multiple rocks nearby to be thrown at her should she try anything, I would be ready for it. I thought I could trust her, but after that ambush from Ren when she said in Mistralton that there would be no encounters how I could I?

"You said I wouldn't encounter any Doom member from Mistralton to Opelucid if I followed your instructions. I did all of that, I made sure to follow each path throughout the route before Icirrus to avoid any confrontation with the soldier's you said where there hiding in wait for us, but before we could finally reach the previous route we encountered the Dewott Ren." Quickly moving my eyes to scan the area behind her if she brought any others with her, searching for any movements or signs behind tree's or within the tall bushes nearby, they were all still. I couldn't just pass off already that it were just me and her here alone; I had to make sure there was no one else here. But I couldn't keep my eyes off of her; all it needed to take was for her to make her move.

"I couldn't do a single thing to help warn you and your friends of his arrival. If I had known he was going to be there I would make it so you could avoid him." She whimpered, almost crying a little. Something I wasn't too sure of. "I wanted to do something to help, but I couldn't. If I had, if I had flown to where you were, everyone at Doom would know that I was helping you fight again Shiny Latias, she would kill me." She walked over and leaned against the same tree I leaned against before I heard her behind the bushes. I still had my Razor Shell pointed to her, still cautious of her. "I think they're on to me, I think they have found out what I am doing. Ren I am sure of, the others I doubt it, but not Shiny Latias. If she ever did find out what I was doing… she isn't the kind of Pokemon who lets things like this go. She doesn't take betrayal well, never has done."

I lowered my scalchop and deactivated my Razor Shell, but still carefully watching through the trees and bushes for a sign of ambush as I walked towards Jessica stopping just a little beside her and asked. "Why do you stay with them? If you hate them then why return to them?"

"It's the only place left I call home." She shrugged "After Team Annihilation HQ was shut down I was forced to follow the ones that did escape to become what you see now. And besides even if I did try, I know Shiny Latias would search the globe for me, hunt me down no matter where I tried to go or hide, it's pointless. I just want to be out here, no more fighting, no more Shiny Latias; I just want to be free of all of it…"

I sat beside and looked up at the moon with her, but not before watching her expression as it changed from a calm but sad look to only a saddened one, as if she felt hopeless and trapped. I felt as though I could trust her, with everything she was telling me, about Shiny Latias, the fear I could hear from her voice every time she mentioned her name and the terrible things she had done to so many people and Pokemon. Her sadness as she looked up at the sky wishing to be free of Team Doom, it felt genuine, that she didn't want to fight me or anyone, she just wanted to live a life where she could finally be free. "Hey, um, why don't you come with us?" I asked her. Immediately, she turned to look at me, her mouth open agape surprised at what I had just offered. "I mean, if you don't like Team Doom, if you don't want to be a part of them, why not just leave them? I can help you; we'll be able to take you away to somewhere safe. A place not even Shiny Latias or Team Doom could find you. Please, I want to help you." Jessica stared at me with her mouth open wide still in shock, but then quickly closed it and turned away shooting right up with her levitation. Slowly, I stood up and walked close to her.

"Zack… I'll never be safe, not unless Shiny Latias is defeated once and for all." She said, shifting a little bit further away from me as I tried to reach out to her with my paw. With her back still turned to me, she then said "I may die during our fight with Shiny Latias and Team Doom, but I will still help you take down Shiny Latias while I am on the inside."

"Jessica, look at me." I said, finally touching her shoulder with my paw, with her head slowly turning towards me, her eyes slowly met mine. "No one is going to die; I'm not going to let that happen. By the time all of this is over, when Shiny Latias and Team Doom have been dealt with, you won't ever have to worry about them ever again."

Jessica only nodded and levitated back down against the tree again, I sat with her and we looked up at the moon still shinning down its bright light. We must've been sitting there for a good hour or so in silence, every so often I cast a glance at her, her face was unreadable at first, but then I started to notice her expression change to sadness again. Perhaps she felt that she didn't believe me on what I said to her, that no one else would die. I wanted to say more to her, to reassure her that everything would be fine, but the words stayed inside. Not because I didn't want to say anything to her, but I couldn't find the words.

"Jessica, can I ask you something? What is Shiny Latias' power?" I asked, breaking the silence between us. It was something that had been on my mind for quite some time. How did Shiny Latias become the leader of an entire army? Let alone the human turned Pokemon once belonging to Annihilation. What was this power that made the others including Jessica fear her? "You said something about her having a power she used to control everyone else into submission, it's why they join. What do you mean by that?"

"Her power is control. I don't know much about it, how she uses it, or how long it can last for, but what I do know is that if you look her in the eyes and she looks right back at you she can make you do the things she wants you to do; follow a simple command, tell her your darkest secrets, even make you kill your loved ones, no matter how hard you try to resist her." She shook her head. "She once called herself 'Number 0' because she once injected herself with the Doom serum, the same stuff that can change a human into a Pokemon with alternative fur and eye color. The affects at first seemed not to do a single thing to her, but then as time passed, Shiny Latias noticed something different, something inside her had changed; she could somehow control any type of Pokemon no matter the resistance against the move she uses, even humans cannot resist her power."

"How can she be stopped if she has this power? If she has a power like that… she could take over Unova."

"The others at Team Doom have said the same thing. They want her to act and be done with it, but she says she wants to wait for the right moment to begin." Jessica looked at me "I think she is waiting for you to show up, whatever the reason it can't be a good one." She said.

"Why did she do this to me?" I asked her gesturing with my paws directly at myself. "Before any of this, I was just a regular human going about my daily life; I didn't want to be part of this, this Team Doom business."

"Do you really hate this?" She asked. I was about to tell her that I did, wishing I could be human again, but then me and Latias couldn't be together anymore. When we became a couple, I felt happy that we were together, that everyone accepted us, a fear that everyone wouldn't and I would live hated by so many people and Pokemon I have grown up with, became friends with, even called family. Back when I was human, I had wanted to become a Savior rank 01, earn a good amount of money and start off my own family and settle down, when I became this Dewott I thought I had lost all of that, but this and my new life gave me a second chance, I could still achieve my dream this way, and I was happy.

Shaking my head with a smile, I replied with. "No. Being in this form has allowed me to communicate with my Pokemon, my friends. It even allowed me and Latias to become a couple. Sure there have been some… bad moments, especially what happened between my mom and Shiny Latias, but I'm happy and willing to see where this road takes me."

With that, Jessica smiled and levitated up again, stretching out her body popping her bones. "That's good to hear." She smiled. "I have to get back. Zack, you about Team Doom, their headquarters can be found hidden within route 10, just beyond the sealed off gate north of Opelucid city. From there, you can find the entrance to Team Doom near the mountain halfway through the route via a small passage you can find behind tall spiral rocks. You'll find it if you stick to the road." Jessica smiled as she looked up at the moon one last time. "Oh, and through those tall spiral rocks you'll find a small narrow passage, and on the other side you'll see the building you have been searching for." I was happy to hear this, the news that I have been longing for. Team Doom, Shiny Latias was so close, it was almost over.

"Jessica, I'm sorry I didn't trust you. It's just that, I have lost people I care about, all because of Team Doom. If it hadn't been for you, if you hadn't helped us before on guiding us through route 07, and telling us where the location of Doom actually was, we could've lose many more on our search, friends, people who have helped us, innocent people who just happened to cross paths with Doom, thank you Jessica."

"T-thank you Zack." She stuttered slightly, looking back at me and smiled. "The only other thing I have to tell you are that there will be an attack here in Opelucid by Team Doom soldier's lead by one of the Team Doom Eight; number 01 Cornelius tomorrow at the museum. I'll see you soon, later." Was all she said as she waved and flew up high and fast up above the trees and flew off towards where Team Doom's hideout should be.

* * *

****

**Pokemon Center – Waiting Room**

Arriving back shortly after Jessica had left to be back with Team Doom, I found myself back at the waiting room of the Pokemon center to clean up the mess I left behind before taking a walk out of the city. But instead of finding the waiting area with no one inside like before, I saw Latias over by the same table reading one of the many documents I had read.

"So he really is your brother." Latias said without looking up at me as I entered the room, walking towards the table. "W-what are you going to do? About Ren I mean?"

"I don't know. Yesterday, I thought I was the last member of the Raines family to be alive, my parents, my sister Alison, all of them dead while I lived and continued on alone. I looked up my family file after we defeated Team Annihilation all those years ago searching for any remaining family I may have left, but it told me that I didn't."

"Zack, you're not alone," Latias levitated beside me and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "You still have your adopted sister Yuri, your adopted dad, me and soon…" She paused, rubbing her belly for a moment, but stopped and shook her head. "And soon all of this fighting will be over and we can be together."

"And what about you, Latias; do you still want to try and talk some sense into your sister?" I asked, still unsure how I felt about it. Even if she managed to do it, Shiny Latias would be taken away locked up somewhere. I was angry for everything she did to us, but I had hoped the fighting wouldn't be necessary, that Latias succeeded and our future would begin.

"She's still my sister, Zack. I have to try. You and I are on the same boat as one another; both of our siblings, our last blood relatives left alive as our enemies, and we are trying to find an alternative way so all of us can stop the fighting." She lifted up her other arm and pulled me into a hug. With my head resting on her chest right where Ren had cut her with his Razor Shell, I asked.

"Does your injury still hurt?" I asked, glancing down at the slightly visible cut on her chest.

"Nope! The pain quickly went away as soon as the nurse applied some potion on my chest." She smiled. "Actually now that I think about it, it kind of tickles. Kind of annoying to be honest. Oh wait! That's just your tuft of fur on top of your head." She laughed, flicking the fur on top of my head with her paws messing up the fur on my head, now a tangled mess.

Thinking of what Jessica told me about how close we were to Team Doom's hideout, and how one of their members; Cornelius was going o attack the museum here in the city tomorrow, so I decided to wait until early morning to warn the Savior's of the attack and the location of Team Doom.

"You want to head back to others now?" I asked, pushing myself off of Latias to tidy up the table of the documents. Latias smiled and nodded as she helped me clear the table before we made our way back to our room.

"Um, Zack?" She said, stopping at the doorway, again touching her belly with both of her paws. "Do you, do you want to spend some time together with me soon? Like what we did in Nimbasa city, going around the city and having fun."

"Of course I would. I'll let you know when I have free time." I smiled, holding the documents in my paws as we walked out together.

But there would never be another time together, not like those days spent wandering the city for anything fun and relaxing we could do together. In the coming days, everything changed for us, all we had left of those days we spent together were fighting our enemy, until the fated hour.

* * *

****

**Opelucid City – Museum**

The morning came quick after a dreamless sleep and immediately I called the Savior's of two things; an attack said to happen by one of the members of Team Doom; Cornelius, and the location of Team Doom just north of the gate where victory road once was, and within the hour, trucks and cars full of many Savior soldier's armed and ready awaited me across the street from the museum, hiding and waiting for the chance to strike. But the question I was asked by them was; 'What makes you think there will be an attack here within the city?' and 'How do you know that Team Doom's hideout really is past the gate?' I could've told them about Jessica, but I had to keep her identity a secret, careful of who exactly was listening in, I didn't want her life to be at any more risk than it was. So I just told that I overheard two Team Doom soldier's talk about it when I was outside of the city that night.

Several soldiers's investigated the area that I told them where they could find Team Doom's hideout; near tall spiral rocks near the mountain of route 10… they found a tall building surrounded by a large concrete wall. And on the building was the letter 'D' the same letter the other Doom soldier's all have on their upper arm, same color, and same design. Outside the wall were stationed guards surrounding the area and all armed with rifles. But we didn't move we had to protect the city from the upcoming attack that would happen. One our leaders had ordered us to stay inside the city for now until he arrived, and that man was none other than the same man who had accepted me as a member of the Savior's; Clark Stone, leader of the Unova Savior's branch and one of five founding members of the Savior's.

Suddenly, inside the museum there was a commotion of some kind, but before any of us could investigate what was happening, gunfire could be heard, followed by screams erupt from the front entrance as a crowd of people emerged running out into the streets to flee from the attack within. Savior soldier's covered behind the walls and trucks or whatever they could take cover behind, but we couldn't move in yet. We had to wait.

He arrived still wearing the same black suit and tie armed with only a handgun and approached me and other soldier's to prepare for the mission. Clark Stone cleared his throat and gave us our instructions.

"I'm sorry I took so long, but we can't rush into something like this, especially if a member of the humans turned Pokemon are involved." He said and gestured with his hand for me to stand beside him. "This all of you should already know is Zack Raines, rank 01 of the Savior's, he will be leading you all into the mission." My heart tensed up at that with teeth tightly shut. I didn't like these leadership missions. Sure the first one went by well, but leading twenty soldiers despite only leading a small team of four from last time, and in the span of time I got to know those four, I learnt of their skills, their experiences in combat, but there at that moment I hardly knew anyone, their skills, what they are good at, I knew nothing of them. But before I could get Clark to ask for someone else before he could continue, he cleared his throat again and held up a sheet of paper. "This is a map of the museum you shall all be using, I want everyone to memorize this map, because soon you shall all be entering inside within 10 minutes. Your mission is to apprehend the enemy and save any civilian and none hostile remaining inside. We must stop this Team Doom member no matter what."

Clark stepped towards the soldier's and handed one of them the map, they gathered around it while Clark returned to me. I was surprised at first to see Clark here or ever on a mission to lead us. I just thought he was only here to lead us in our final battle against Team Doom, but nothing like this. "You must be wondering why I am here leading the team?" I shook my head and let him explain.

"Before you called us here, alerting us to the attack that would happen in this city, and information about Team Doom's HQ, I was coming here with my team… for a personal matter." He said, glancing over around the truck up at the museum. "I was told only yesterday that… my son would be in there, Cornelius would be inside waiting for me." Cornelius Stone, Clark hardly spoke of him before, but what he did say about him was something a parent wouldn't be too proud of telling others about their child. Cornelius was the kind of person who had the tendency to injure others, human or Pokemon, whatever was closest. He got into fights, fights so violent he injured and broke the bones of kids his age, even teachers, and then he was sent to juvenile hall. Clark also told me when Cornelius was a young man, Clark said his son went down a dark path… the path of our enemy; Team Annihilation. After Team Annihilation was shut down and rounding up members of Annihilation, Clark searched for Cornelius within the captured soldier's, the bodies we collected, but his son was never found, not even the other soldier's knew what remained of him.

"What makes you think your son is here?" I asked, Clark crossed his arms and stared down at the ground deep in thought for a moment.

"I was given a message over the phone… a voice said only three words to me before he hung the phone, 'Opelucid City Museum' in a voice I recognized. Immediately I went down to see Lee about this, the voice on the phone. After analyzing the voice, comparing it with previous recordings from audio messages he had left… it was a match, it was my son Cornelius who spoke to me, and he was alive. And somewhere in that museum… is my son." He sighed and chuckled to himself. "After years of working as a Savior, this whole thing could very well be a lie told by the enemy to lure me in, and I fell for it… I just hope this was a lie and Cornelius is, somewhere else than here… that's what I hope."

"Don't worry sir. Um, with my team we'll go into the building and stop the Doom Soldier's and save everyone we can. You just stay here and don't enter the building. Stay out here with your soldier's."

He laughed. "Sure, I can do that. What about you? I heard in the report from your last mission leading those other four soldier's at the warehouse was pretty scary on your end, how so?"

I thought back to that mission, leading Sakato, Herman, Doug and Elijah and keeping them alive for the mission. I was worried that one of them or all would either get hurt or end up dead, all because I couldn't lead them properly. But in the end, it went well. Was it luck? Or was it natural? Did I have some sort of hidden leadership skill hidden inside me? Everyone else told me that I had a knack for leadership, but I didn't know. "I thought i would end up getting everyone killed or injured during the mission. I didn't know if I was the right person for the job. Sir, why do I have to lead them? Isn't there anyone else who can do this? And besides, I don't have enough experience for this kind of thing. I mean I only ever did it once."

"Zack," Clark said as he knelt down and placed his hand on my shoulder. "I trust you can handle this. You are one of my best, you have done so much for the Savior's, I trust you are the one for this mission, the right one who can do this." I wasn't sure still, I could've fought for me to be replaced by someone else, someone with so much more experience than me, but for some reason I accepted it, chose to lead those men into the museum unsure if all of us were ever coming out of that building alive.

"Okay soldiers, listen up!" I raised my voice, alerting the entire soldier's towards me. "We are going to be moving in, so prepare yourselves and…" I paused and said with confidence that for some reason suddenly came to me. "I want no heroics from anyone. We're all getting out of this alive. All of us have something to return to, something we want. So let's go in there and stop Team Doom!" And the soldiers all responded with a 'Yes sir!' I wasn't really sure about that speech I just gave, but at the time it did seem 'cool' to me… I don't know.

And then we moved in, with me up front with a Protect up with one paw and a scalchop in the other with a Razor Shell active, the mission began. But if I had looked back, I would see twenty soldiers following me towards the building, and from way at the back behind the trucks and walls soldiers not in my command waiting to open fire on the enemy shooting from the open windows, but what I wouldn't see was Clark Stone. He was gone.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

**Cornelius was supposed to be introduced towards the end of this chapter, but his introduction was small, 500 words small, and so I decided to place his introduction for the start of chapter 30.**


	30. Chapter 30 Father and Son

Chapter 30 - Father and Son

* * *

****

**Opelucid City Museum – First Floor**

It wasn't easy, I thought it would be. Heh, not sure where I got that thought from, perhaps since I had done this before, that everything would be the same just like before; I just had to believe in my team and we'll make it through this and come out together alive and well.

I had ordered the team to enter through the entrance doors. Not all together, just six to enter to search the entrance of museum while being covered by the rest of the team at the entrance. One of the soldier's had gave the signal, the room was all clear for us to enter, and so we did, but cautiously, refusing to let our guards down even for the slightest moment. Since the Doom soldier's upstairs fired their weapons an hour ago until our arrival, they have remained silent. What I didn't know was why Cornelius and the Doom soldiers were attacking in this museum, what was their reason for it?

'_The civilians and museum staff members that had escaped earlier were all uninjured, even when the Doom soldiers firing out of the windows didn't hit anyone, their shots always missed their targets. Either they were really bad shots or they deliberately tying to cause attention intended to lure us here. If one of the human turned Pokemon members of Team Doom is here, then this couldn't be good.'_ I thought as my team quickly scanned the room while I stood behind the front desk for cover. _'I have never met this Cornelius before, but if he is a human turned Pokemon, he'll obviously have some unique ability like with what Jessica has with her nightmare world, and with me with absorbing the life energy of Pokemon I defeat. I should've asked Jessica yesterday of what his ability was when I had the chance. But is this Cornelius really Clark's son? Why did he contact him for?'_ I was worried that we had landed ourselves right into a trap set up by Team Doom that we shouldn't even be in here.

"Sir, ground floor of the museum is clear. What are our orders?" One of the soldiers said. Bu I shook my head and I walked out from behind the counter and stopped at the stairs leading to the next floor. I just shrugged it off and told myself that we would be alright.

"Eight of you stay here, I want you to double check this area but also keep watch on that elevator door." I said pointing at the elevator just next to the stairway. I had to spread our team out, most with me for the upstairs attack, and the rest down here at the first floor. Once we attacked Team Doom upstairs, surely they would try and escape, perhaps I could capture this Cornelius guy. "Team Doom might try to escape. Capture them alive if you can. The rest of you, let's move on up." And so we ascended up the stairs towards the second floor, not knowing that the human turned Pokemon Doom member was one of the deadliest members of the team; number 01 Cornelius.

* * *

****

**Opelucid City – Outside of the Museum – Clark Stone POV**

Hearing that voice on the phone played over and over again as if on loop, a voice I had last heard ten years ago before that argument that tore us apart. Cornelius told me that he was here inside the museum Zack was entering, but if I entered, I would definitely be walking myself right into a trap set up by Team Doom. As I stood by and watched as Zack and his team enter through the museum doors, I wanted to go in myself and confront Cornelius. To talk to him after all of these years apart. Despite his flaws, going to juvenile hall, hurting so many people and Pokemon, he was still my son; I had to go see him. Perhaps make things right. If Cornelius was working with the enemy, I had to stop him before he hurt anyone else.

As Zack and his team had finally entered the museum, before I could return to the others and await update from Zack, oddly, I felt as though something or someone was behind me breathing in raspy breaths. Before I could turn to investigate who or what it was, everything went dark; something had struck me hard against my head. a blunt object of some kind, probably a weapon knocking me out cold.

But when I came to, my vision was slightly hazy but I could still make out a few things, I wasn't outside anymore or in medical, I was inside a building, but instead of lying down on a medical bed or stretched I was on a carpet with my back leaning up against a bookshelf with historical and fossil books all crammed up. When my vision cleared my eyes widened in shock as I saw four men standing in front of me armed with rifles and wearing white armor I had seen many times in files and reports from other Savior agents, the men were Team Doom Soldiers, must've dragged in me before knocking me out cold, cowards!

"Hey look! The old guy is awake." Sighed one of the soldiers, I couldn't tell which one of the four spoke because of their helmets concealing their faces. Perhaps it was either second or third from where the voice was.

"Oh yeah, the boss would want to see this." The man walked away out of the small room we were inside to another room. On the other soldiers aimed their weapon at me wanting me to stand and walk out. When I finally did, I turned back at the soldier still aiming his weapon at me.

"Here he is boss, just like you wanted."

"Shouldn't you be out there where it is safe rather than in here where we members of Team Doom are old man?" I turned and was quite surprised to see talking to me apart from the other five Doom Soldier's in the room large enough to hold a Pokemon this large stare back at me with quite the toothy grin might I add.

A Rayquaza, one with a lilac body, blue patterns over its body where it should be yellow, and black sclera with white iris' and pupils. _'So this must be one of those human turned Pokemon Doom members then. But that voice… no, it can't be him.' _I glared at the soldiers aiming their weapons at me, but the Rayquaza lifted its massive paw ordering the soldiers to lower their weapons and walk over towards the stairs, waiting for Zack and his team no doubt. What were they after here?

Turning my head I realized that I was inside the museum, the third floor 'Opelucid History' if memory serves me well. This floor was full of many bookcases against nearly every wall here, crammed full of books of historical facts on the city; actually it was almost like walking into a library, a very quiet and seemingly lifeless library for how unpopular it was.

"If I am not mistaken, you are a member of Team Doom." I said, adjusting my tie to loosen around my neck as I looked straight into the Rayquaza eyes, daring to ask what was on my mind ever since I heard that voice on the phone, anxious at what the answer from this Pokemon may be. "And you name is… C-Cornelius?"

The Rayquaza smiled and nodded its big head. "Indeed I am father, it is I, your son born anew into this beautiful form full of raw new power waiting to be released into this world." He cackled, wiping away at a released tear forming at his eye with his paw.

"So the old man returns to a place one once came with his wife and son so many years ago. A happy memory for one, an average memory by one, and a sad and angry memory by the other, now which one of the three are you?" He smiled and held up a claw up to his head tapping it and said. "With my ability all members of the Doom Eight have, I will find out easily what saddens you, make it become reality. Or I could just force it out of you by crushing your brittle old bones to dust, haha!"

Yes, Zack had mentioned that, all human turned Pokemon members of Team Doom have a unique ability, a powerful and very dangerous ability; absorbing the defeated Pokemon's life energy thus killing them, creating a nightmare world for the victim. _'So what exactly was this one's ability? 'With his ability, he will find out easily what saddens me, becomes reality.' hallucinations perhaps? Surely a dangerous one no doubt and not one I am willing to experience.'_

"Yes, I remember this place. Your mother and came here often during summer break. Not only did you enjoy this place while you were young, but your mother-"

"She had an interest in this place. An interest you only noticed until an unforeseen thing came..." he interrupted, tapping at a nearby bookcase with his claw. "She loved coming here, but not for the books, no it was another reason why she came here… something I suppose all loving couples fear their loved one would do if their relationship is derailing. She came to this museum not only to see the displays, the so-called 'popular' library section of this building, no; she came all this way to visit a special 'friend'."

Yes, I remember that day, I remember it well… a day I can never forgive myself for. It happened when Cornelius was five years old, just turned a week ago, it was a happy day for him, little kiddo getting nearly all of the things he wanted for presents; remote controlled cars, action figures, video games, whatever a kid that age wanted to fit inside his toy box at home, a home he thought his parents would live together forever at, heh. But life at home wasn't all that it seemed, me and my wife have been having problems of late, fighting, arguments, saying I wasn't there for them when they needed me… and thing is she was right. I was still the leader of the Saviors Unova branch at the time, so I was mostly working in the office, rarely seeing my wife and kid at home wanting to catch Juro and his newly formed Team Annihilation.

Being the man I was back then, I reacted to it all kind of slowly, telling myself that we would be alright in the end. But after almost a year of the fighting, things kinda died down a little, mostly in the summer time, making a few trips to this museum or outside it, well me and Cornelius that is while Helen stayed in here. I guess I could've seen the signs, but I guess my mind chose not to notice it.

There was this man working as a museum tour guide Helen often talked to, acting all chummy and friendly to one another, often I thought they were just old friends who hadn't seen each other in so long, sometimes they would explore the museum together, catch a cup of coffee while I took Cornelius around the city, or late night at the bar to see her 'other' friends. When it turns out that she didn't have 'other' friends here, this man she was seeing wasn't an old friend of hers, that in all she was having an affair with the man.

I found this all out when all of us went down together for the fourth year in a row of coming down to this city; I had got a babysitter for Cornelius after Helen hadn't shown up back at the hotel, after midnight wasn't exactly one of these places for anyone to be out that hour in this city, so obviously I was worried and went out looking for her. But the search wasn't a long one thankfully, I found her in the bar she always went with that man, I found her and him sitting in the corner of the bar kissing one another, it was a sight that sent me into so much rage, more than I possibly had ever unleashed in all of my years alive. My vision was all a blur, holding the man grabbing him by the throat, chocking him with one hand and punching his face, refusing to let go despite the cries of Helen and a few other men at the bar.

After being released from the station, the man I had beaten to a pulp was never seen in Opelucid city again after what happened. Helen on the other hand was furious at me, shouting this and that saying I was a terrible man for what I had done. I was furious at her, calling her a cheating… -well, not nice things one should say to another, but mostly bad things. Then she stormed off that early morning, and that was the last time I ever saw her alive. That afternoon, I was told by the police that Helen was killed, crashed right into a tree near the highway on her way back to the city, her suitcases packed with her and Cornelius' clothing and a toy or two to leave home no doubt, probably to live with her parents in Hoenn. From what I was told, Helen just lost control of the wheel and crashed right into a tree, killing her upon impact. The last thing I remember saying to her before I last saw her was 'Burn in hell, you fucking bitch!' Something I regret saying to her, even to this day. I still loved Helen, wishing I could one day make amends with her, but I couldn't.

Things only got worse after that, with Cornelius changing from a quiet boy to a more reckless one, violent around others, it was something I wish I could've done better at, instead of casting him away from me after every little thing he did wrong. Now he was like this, a Pokemon working alongside the enemy. I had to stop him before things get worse, if my son could be saved, then perhaps… no- I can't ever be forgiven for what I did to them, how I neglected them all these years. How could they ever forgive me?

I looked up at Cornelius once more and spoke. "It was something I hate to remember about this place. Every time I came here after the incident, I was always reminded what I had said to Helen, what I did to you after her death, I regret all of that. I wish I could've done so much better than what I did back then…"

"Really? Regret is it?" He asked, almost in a suspicious way. But as Cornelius was about to open his mouth to speak, a soldier came running from the stairs

"Sir! Savior soldiers have entered the museum, eight on the first floor and twelve on their way up here via the stairs. The target Dewott is ascending the stairs with the twelve soldiers. What are out orders sir?"

"Well, since it is only you four… let them have it while die trying." Cornelius chuckled. "But keep the Dewott alive. The Shiny bitch wants him in tip top shape before Nathaniel is offered as a sacrifice." The soldier acknowledged the order, cocked his weapon before running back out towards the stairs with the rest of his men.

"What is it you are planning, Cornelius?" I demanded wanting to understand this, this reason for the fighting. "What is it you want with Zack?"

"Shiny Latias has planned it all; from the moment she was introduced to the Doom project many years ago, Team Annihilation's downfall, recruitment of us; seven of the Doom Eight to be sacrificed to Zack up to Team Doom's awakening. She desires Zack to kill every other member so she can use his power to control everything Annihilation wanted, what Juro wanted ever since Annihilation became." Cornelius spoke with a sickening grin. "Shiny Latias when she finally has control over the Dewott, she will make Zack hurt and kill his loved ones, starting with her sister. I can only imagine the look on his face when he absorbs her life energy outta the one he loves, hah!"

"Revenge then? So it was all because Juro was killed because of Zack? But why did Shiny Latias turn him into a Pokemon?"

"She calls it 'Sweet revenge' Zack took away someone she cared about, a father figure to her and her family that is Team Annihilation, and she wants to get even; take everything Zack cherishes the most and make him destroy it while using him to rebuild the promised world Juro desires."

_'That so-called promised world Juro once spoke about, it was dream only a madman could create. Juro had the idea that he could recreate the world in his own image while he remained on top. It was why he created that damned machine almost five years ago to rule over the Unova region. A dream to recreate the world into something he called a 'better world' but not without piling up his enemy corpses first. So Team Doom were still set on continuing this mad mans plan then?'_ I thought, as I heard the sounds of guns firing from the stairs.

* * *

****

**Museum – Between second and third floor**

The fighting suddenly broke out between the second and third floor, two of my soldiers had been shot in both the legs and arms leaving me down with ten soldiers left up here with me. We took cover behind tipped over furniture and exhibits that proved to be the most effective bulletproof cover we could find; thick large rectangular slabs of rock of some kind.

"I count four sir, four!" One of my other soldiers counted as he took a quick glance up at the staircase before returning fire with his own weapon, followed by the other soldiers.

'_Four Doom members here?'_ I thought whilst providing my soldier's with protection from the bullets as they fired their weapons with Protect to shield them from harm. _'Seems kinda small for an attack. And besides, small or not they must be planning something.'_

With my two soldier's having being shot earlier, I watched as the two were being treated by one of the medical soldier's to the wounds. How long would they last like this? a few minutes more? An hour at the least? They were all bleeding pretty badly, fearing that I would lose more and the corpses would pile up when I wanted to keep them alive.

So at that moment I stood up, "Soldier's, provide me cover. I'm going up!" I said as I ran up the stairs, ignoring the pleas for my soldiers to stop, but they provided me with support as I climbed the stairs, a Protect shielding me from the enemy's gunfire. It was a good thing I had practiced that move a lot more than my other moves, I had managed to keep the Protect up after all of the shots fired at me. If it had been a weaker Protect, it would've broke before I reached the halfway point of the stairs. It was a foolish thing for me to do, me a Dewott who hadn't even mastered their moves yet rushing into a bullet storm with a Protect I had the highest control of. Sure give me a few months at this at best and I can last quite a while keeping Protect active, but give me a year and I would probably be ready for something this crazy.

Espeon here; 'Nah, you're doin' a good job there Zackary. With the training I have gave to you duing our times together I can safely say this with confidence and with a bright smile; you are more than ready for something that crazy.'

Um, oh okay. Thanks Espeon for that. But still, I wish I had put more thought into all of what I was doing instead of rushing around like that.

By the time I had reached the top of the third floor, my soldier's had advanced upward. The Doom soldiers all shot at me and all trying to break through my Protect, give it time and they would succeed, but I wouldn't let them. With my Psychic, I forcefully pushed one back slamming them into the wall near the stairs knocking them out cold. Three remained; I used my psychic I held one up in the air. As for the other two soldiers still shooting at me, they were shot by my soldiers as they had made it to the third floor.

Six of my soldiers were now on the third floor with me while four stayed with the injured two soldiers. With the Doom soldier held up by my Psychic, I was originally about to question him as to why Team Doom were here. But then I heard my name being called out by Clark Stone further inside the third floor somewhere.

Four of my soldiers went on ahead of me around the corner; I lowered the Doom soldier down for the last two soldiers could apprehend him while I joined the other soldiers to investigate what was around the corner. As I walked cautiously down the corridor before turning the corner, what I saw was Clark Stone standing face to face with what surprised me having only seen in Pokemon books or having only been told about them; a Rayquaza. I wasn't sure why a Rayquaza was here of all places and walked in casually like this was nothing to worry about, but then I stopped.

I don't know why I didn't notice its color being different than a normal color of a Rayquaza first. I had noticed the Rayquaza's body was lilac, and its eyes, its sclera were black, and pupils and iris' white. I had seen those types of eyes before; Jessica, Nathaniel, and myself. Was this a Doom member? But before I could alert Clark to keep away from it, the Rayquaza spoke.

"My, my, so you must be the 'Scary' Dewott the soldiers at Doom who have been suffering endless nightmares about… or perhaps that were the Mews doing?" He said mockingly as he held up both of his paws up to his mouth and biting at his claws with fright. "Your ability is said to absorb the defeated Pokemon's last remaining strength making you stronger thus killing the defeated. Impressive for what you can gain with that power; assist a human to become champion at the league worldwide maybe? Get what you want with all of that power, world domination? Endless possibilities with that much power flowing through your veins my boy!"

He was a human turned Pokemon Team Doom member alright, but why was he here. I ordered my soldier's to leave the museum with the others. If this guy had the same kind of abilities like Jessica or Nathaniel, then this won't be pretty. The Rayquaza had its large paw near Clark, so even if we tried to get him out of there, the Pokemon would probably attack him, so I had to do this the hard way, the longer way.

"What do you know of my ability?" I asked, stepping a little bit further inside the room, walking slowly towards Clark. I just had to reach him, and then I could get us out of here. "I take it you are one of the humans who turned into a Pokemon all thanks to Team Doom then?"

"You got it! Well done boy! Well done!" He clapped with a toothy grin, exposing his sharp fangs. "The name is Cornelius Stone, the very first member of Team Doom to become what you see before you."

'_Cornelius Stone?'_ I thought, remembering back to that moment outside not long ago when Clark told me about hearing this man on the phone he thought was his son also named Cornelius. Was this Rayquaza the same one?

"Now then, why have I brought you both here to this very location? Well it is simple; it is all to initiate the final stage of our plan." He said proudly, his voice carried across the room.

"And what do you mean by that?" Clark asked, clenching both of his fists.

"Well, I have my orders to take a life you see…" When he said that, I immediately reached down and grabbed my scalchop and used Razor Shell, quickly running over to Clark to protect him from Cornelius. But Cornelius had acted first. Cornelius had summoned up a large wave of water behind him and sent it right at the wall between me and Clark separating us. So instead, I turned my attention to Cornelius about to attack him, but suddenly, strangely he began howling with laughter before uttering under his breath. "Haha! I got you! My ability has caught you!"

I looked all around me; I saw nothing, heard nothing out of the ordinary or saw any hallucinations. Nothing happened, then all of a sudden, I saw Clark kneeling down and began gasping and yelping. Not knowing why he was doing that, I heard voices, peoples voice I had never heard before, 'You monster!' shouted a man 'She died, your son deserved better!' Shouted another man 'Where's mommy?' Asked a young child, Cornelius?

"What did you do!?" I demanded, holding up my Razor Shell aiming the tip at his forehead.

"My ability you see allows my victims to revisit a moment in their lives which brought them sadness, a reminder of what you lost, what you cannot gain; lose of a loved one, a life you can never live, fear of your loved ones dying ALL out replaying in your mind in full, as if what you are seeing had just happened." He said smugly, cackling in between each word. Then he moved in close to me. "Remember that snapping sound echo through your ears boy? The sound of a neck being broken? The last face your mother made before her life was snuffed out by Shiny Latias?"

I flinched at a noise I suddenly heard right behind me, it was a loud cracking sound… it was like… it was just like the same cracking sound I had heard when my mom… I turned around, but I saw nothing.

"Zack, w-what's going on?" That voice, it sounded just like her. The voice echoed all around me "P-please!" I heard her voice whimper. But before I could do anything or say something, that was when I heard another snap, followed by the same laughter I heard as soon as she killed my mom; Shiny Latias.

Screams began to echo throughout the room, voice I recognized; 'No don't!' begged a man I recognized as Richard, my real dad, 'Don't hurt them!' another voice begged, it was a woman I recognized as my real mom 'Megumi'. Voices of my friends Espeon, Gardevoir, Dewott, Brent and Lisa screamed and begged for their lives echo all around me, begging for their lives by some unseen character, then gunshots could be heard followed by a blood curling scream. I started to cry when I heard their voices all begging to be spared before being killed. An affect by Cornelius' ability.

"Sadness… it is a terrible thing that can hold one back. My ability starts off by reminding you what you fear, then it upsets you and your emotions come out. But if I don't do anything to stop it, your emotions become too much to handle, and the closest thing you see that can and will end your life will start to look really friendly." Cornelius said with a smile, glancing at Clark as he began to clutch his head with both hands, screaming for the voices to stop.

'You cheating whore, I hope you die!' Clark's voice echoed over him as he knelt down pounding away at his temples. 'I have no son, you monster!'

"No, no, no! I don't want to hear this anymore!" Clark shouted in desperation. His face now bright red. "Please stop this! C-Cornelius! Stop it!"

"You want me to stop?" Cornelius asked with a bored sigh. "You want me to end this sadness for you?"

Clark didn't say anything to Cornelius; he only looked at him knelt down at the floor. Clark looked at his son Cornelius, still clutching his head while shaking violently. Cornelius stared at his father for a moment, then for what seemed like hours passed, Cornelius smiled and nodded, levitated upward before flying over to Cornelius. "Then I shall grant you your desire. But if you have forgot what I told you about my ability; my ability reminds you what you fear is, then it upsets you and your emotions come out. But if I don't do anything to stop it, your emotions become too much to handle, and the closest thing you see that can and will end your life… you will take it." His smile grew wider as Cornelius drew back his paw as his claws glow a deep dark purple before striking it into Clark's chest stabbing him right through. Cornelius withdrew his claws back drawing blood as it dripped onto the carpet staining it.

The voices for me had died down giving me a chance to stand and charge towards Cornelius with his head turned away from me to strike him with a Razor Shell, but before I could get close to attack him, he hit me with his large tail sending me flying through the room until I hit my back against the wall. Cornelius turned towards me, but not before blowing a massive hole through the ceiling with a move I was unfamiliar with. "I came here expecting to see something out of you, boy. A Dewott with this power should've achieved so much more than this. What I saw was a small Dewott waving around that shell thing of yours who could barely do anything to save your boss." He pointed at me with his claw while he spoke. "You better do better next time, boy. Next time we meet I am expecting something good! Farewell!"

Cornelius had flown up towards the sky, flying as fast as possible away from here. I ran as fast as I could to Clark, he was still alive, but bleeding badly.

"I… I failed him… I wanted to stop the fighting… but I couldn't save him… I couldn't even save my son…" he said, coughing up a lot of blood over his sleeve.

"Sir, try not to speak, save your energy, we'll get you treated in no-" Clark interrupted me, grabbing me by the shoulder with his bloodied hand.

"Y-you must stop t-them…*coughs* you must stop Team Doom and Shiny L-Latias… d-don't let them win." He said, fighting with what little strength he had left to keep going. "Shiny Latias wants the same thing as Juro, and that will mean death to so many people and Pokemon, you m-must stop them." I nodded, listening to Clark… as he spoke his last words to me.

"Zack… *coughs* from a fourteen year old boy starting his journey shy around others, unsure if they could ever make it, grew up to become one of the best Savior members I have ever took on. I am proud to have you as a member of the Savior's… " Clark smiled weakly, his breathes drew shorter with each passing word. "Be strong Zack; n-never forget what is important to you… " He pointed with his finger at my chest where my heart was. "Whoever is connected to this, f-friends, family… l-loved ones… never forget…"

And that was that, Clark Stone had died right then and there in my arms. The leader of the Unova branch of the Savior's was gone. His words remained with me after all of these years, and I would never forget them. He was a man I looked up to as a young boy, I was proud to work alongside with him and I had hoped one day in the future I could tell him how much being a member of the Savior's helped make me the person I am today, but I can't. So here it is; Thank you Clark Stone, thank you.

* * *

The following afternoon, Opelucid City was silent. Trucks came in full of members of the Savior's armed and ready to fight a battle against one of our most dangerous of enemies we have ever faced. That day, despite the preparations and a lot of work all of us had to do, we were silent. We were mourning the loss of our leader.

Almost all Saviors members of the Unova region were called upon to Opelucid City for the final assault on Team Doom, their location after these past few months of searching had been found. In a matter of days the assault would being, and on that day Unova remembered as that day Team Doom would be defeated, but also as the day the Saviors had fallen.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

Both Lisa and Brent were originally supposed to appear within this chapter to help out Zack with Team Doom. This however was cut in favor of a future story I have planned later.


	31. Chapter 31 Goodbye

Chapter 31 – Goodbye...

* * *

**Opelucid City – Orange Diner**

It was quiet that morning, not just the empty streets but after what had happened two days ago. Team Doom had attacked inside the museum, an attack lead by one of their leaders; Number 01 Cornelius Stone, the son of the leader of the Unova Savior branch Clark Stone. A few days prior to the attack, Cornelius contacted Clark and told him to meet him at the museum, so Clark did but brought along most of his soldiers with him. Inside, only four Doom soldiers were there waiting for us, not to kill all who entered, but to slow us down while Cornelius got me and Clark up on the third floor with him, all but for me to see him kill Clark. I wasn't sure why Cornelius did that, kill his own father. To break morale of the Saviors? Possibly. To make sure that I was still on path on facing Team Doom for all of the terrible things they have done so far? Could be the reason for it. But I was set on finding them and taking them down once and for all, and nothing would change that.

Most of the Savior soldiers left within Opelucid had mixed feelings about this whole operation; hopelessness on defeating Team Doom after our leader had just been murdered, venomous hatred for the enemy treating the captured soldiers from the museum attack pretty badly, roughing them up with the occasional death threats here and there, and others with a slight bit of hope since I was on the team, 'The hero of Unova' the same guy who had defeated Team Annihilation years ago. It gave them hope that when it came to Team Doom, just like with Annihilation we would defeat them.

In the early hours of the morning before any planning could start for the battle with Team Doom, me along with Espeon, Sakura and Isaac went down to a café Sakura had often been with her mom called the Orange Diner located somewhere within the center of the city, with delicious food and drinks she quoted 'were to die for' and so instead of eating at the Pokemon center, we tried here (thankfully not using my money as payment since I lost a lot on Latias' Super Latias merchandise she made me buy for her in the previous cities) to test this food and drink to die for, and the results… it was. The Orange Diner, not sure why it was named that at first since the exterior and interior of the diner weren't orange or had the fruit oranges inside, the décor were mostly dark with photos and posters of this and that, buildings and landmarks from the city, it is said that at either sunset or sunrise (I forgot which one it was) but at one of those particular times of the day, the sun would shine down on the diner and both the inside and outside and it would become orange. Or was it only on the inside of the diner?

"Yummy!" Espeon exclaimed with delight as she devoured down on half of a pancake completely covered in syrup and strawberries. "Man, the food here is so good. Now why the heck did you skip out on telling us about this place Sakura?"

"Sorry about that Espeon, but I couldn't really find the best time to tell you about this place after everything that has been going on." She said, eating her own food from her plate, waffles served with various fruits. "But now that we are here, I also heard that the hamburgers they serve here and really good. Maybe we can come back here for dinner and try them out?"

"With a serving of fries and large cold sodas? You can definitely count me in on that!" Sakura chuckled alongside with her as Isaac continued to eat his food in silence, an omelet and toast while staring out of the window.

"What about you Isaac?" She asked him, as he turned his head now towards us. "How is the food? Do you like it?"

"Oh yeah, it's really good. I haven't had food this tasty in quite some time now." He chuckled, cutting up more food before digging his fork into his meal. "What did we have? Cup noodles and potato chips whenever we can while on the road? Yeah, that seems about right. I guess when we go and search for the herb we'll still be eating cup noodles and food like this. But first we'll have to take on Team Doom."

"And soon it will be all over, taking on Team Doom that is." She sighed, setting down her knife and fork on the plate. Sakura looked up from the plate and at us with a warm smile. "So how long do you plan on searching for this herb? I'll have to go back to the college next month, and I'm pretty sure Zack wants to spend his retirement exploring the world soon."

"I'm not going to keep you guys with me for long; I know you all have something you want to do." He said before sipping his tea. "And besides, it's not like I'll be travelling alone for too long after you guys leave me, I have my friends from my high school who'll be helping me on my search. I called them right before we left Icirrus City and they all agreed to help me out for a while. Maybe until we cover all of Unova in search for the herb, so who knows if we'll get that much done in the time we'll have. They have six months to help me out, so well who knows."

"Six months, eh?" Espeon said, before completely devouring her pancakes off her plate. "It takes us roughly about a month to circle the entire region. I suppose searching the entire region area by area would no doubt take a long time. So what's your plan? Start from one side of the region and work your way towards the other side?"

"Yeah. I believe I should start us off in Driftveil. We can search the area nearby, the routes, forests, caves and beaches. In my great-grandmothers journal, she wrote that she 'travelled far' but remained within the region when she found the herb, but never stated where about this herb was." Isaac smiled as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "So we're going to start off 'far away' from her home town now known as Black City to as far back as Driftveil City and the surrounding areas."

"Nice! And soon you'll find the herbs and be giving everyone the good stuff like a professional dealer!"

"Hey, c'mon. Don't you start getting my hopes up! And I am not a drug dealer!" He laughed, attempting to hold back on laughing even more, but that proved to be an unsuccessful attempt.

* * *

**Route 10**

Halfway in route 10 we had already found the mountain Jessica told me about, just behind them, the location of Team Doom's HQ and Shiny Latias waits. I was asked by the Savior's to check up on the area before we moved in since I was up and close to the route in the first place (but I was in central, and yet there were a truck load of Savior's just outside the route. Yeah, I was the closest to that area…) but the walk would do us well, a fresh start to prepare ourselves for the battle to come. I had never been in route 10 before,

But I knew Sakura or Isaac couldn't join in on the fight, they weren't ready for something like this, and besides I didn't want them to get hurt or killed. I had hoped that during the walk I could find something to say for them to change their minds. Latias was eager to join in on the fight, especially how she wanted to talk to her sister to try and stop further fighting between anyone.

"So Zackary, how has Psychic training been for you? Is the Dark Place less weird now?" Espeon asked. I nodded my head at her question first. Before speaking, I thought back to my previous uses of the Dark Place, a state in which a Psychic type can enter one's mind to either train their Psychic to become stronger, access memories, even ones thought once forgotten, memories to help them find an answer to something left unanswered. Training, training had always been the only use for the Dark Place. I needed to become stronger in order to face Team Doom and Shiny Latias. Although sometimes I use the Dark Place to access my memories to a time of the Time Crisis, mainly two people I could vaguely remember their faces, people I called friends who were created by Infinite, friends that died but faded away out of existence; Cleo and Rhys. But every time I tried to remember their faces, their voices, it always came back as a blurry blob with a mumbled voice I can't make it out on what they say. I then started to believe that in time I would forget them. If Team Doom weren't around, I would have more time to focus on Cleo and Rhys, maybe remember more about them… I felt as though the more I concentrated on my Psychic training, the less I would think of them, that I would slowly start to forget them, and I didn't want that.

"I have been using the Dark Place to get better at using my Psychic type moves, but..."

"But what?" She asked, curious at my sudden silence.

"I have also been trying to remember Cleo and Rhys, even though I am supposed to be training for the fight with Team Doom soon. I feel as though that the more I train, the less I'll remember them. I don't remember much about them, only what we did together and their names…"

Espeon and I stopped walking letting Sakura and Isaac walk on ahead of us. Espeon walked up to me, jumped up and wrapped her forelegs around me, pulling me into a hug. "Zack, Cleo and Rhys are your friends. Somewhere deep down in your mind are the appearances of them waiting for you to find them." Espeon lifted herself up in front of me with her paws on my shoulders. "The Dark Place, a.k.a. your mind is a giant universe full of your memories; sad, happy, anger, fears, past memories, and faces of people and Pokemon along with what they sound like. Stuff you remember well like it were only yesterday, things like an old memory of visiting a certain location, and memories reignited because of nostalgia. It's all there just waiting to be found within your mind, you just gotta search deep and keep trying no matter what."

I had hoped that I could find them within my mind again. Their faces and what they sounded like along with more memories of what we did together were hidden deep down in my mind somewhere and not erased by some law of the world thing; what doesn't exist must be forgotten by those who knew them kind of thing. I had hoped that I could try and search for them within my mind after the fighting was over.

"I will Espeon, and thank you." I smiled, and she smiled too, with a slight blush visible on her face, and we walked together trailing a little behind Sakura and Isaac as we could hear them talk about searching the herb around Unova, so we didn't rush towards them and decided to talk about other things. "So, Team Doom is just over that mountain then. Do you think I'll be ready for them?"

"Hmm, you are more than capable on fighting a strong enemy; that was seen when you fought off the grey Dewott. With you, me, Latias maybe and the rest of the Savior's backing us up while we take down the enemy, I believe you'll be alright. So don't you worry about us, we are more than capable when it comes to fighting these Doom soldier's. So when those human turned Doom idiots show up, we'll take them on together." Fighting alone against the Team Doom Eight was tough; alone I would either get out of one fight barely hanging on before the next one, or end up dead. Together with the others alongside me, I felt as though we would pull through. I just had to remind myself of that.

"Oh yeah! I forgot to mention about something I had discovered the other day. But I wanted to tell you about it, but because of what had happened with Clark, I figured… I would tell you at a later date." She looked sadly at me. "When I was still an Eevee, my trainer Eliza showed me a photo on her computer where I came from; 'Goldenrod Day Care' was all I could remember. But when I was using the computer, I looked up about that word and saw that Goldenrod was actually a city within the Johto region, and so I searched the city on the computer for a day care, and I found one." Espeon softly smiled as she glanced up at the sky for a moment before turning her head at me. "I believe that is where I was born."

"What about your parents? Did you find anything about them?" I asked. Espeon shook her head.

"Nothing about them. All I know is that I was born in the Johto region, Goldenrod City at a day care. I thought maybe we could go there and talk to them and ask about my parents, if they are still alive that is. But I would like to go and check it out. Do you want to come with?"

"Of course I would. And when you do find your parents, you could tell them all the things you have been doing, all of the good you have done for everyone in the Unova region." I smiled back, and she smiled a lot more than she did. So we had a plan, a plan for me and Espeon to go to the Johto region to Goldenrod city to find information about her parents. It was a future I was looking forward to, however, fate always got in the way for a bright future for us…

"Well,well, ain't this a pretty little sight!" A loud voice echoed around us, a familiar voice, one that I immediately reacted by running up to Sakura and Isaac with Espeon beside me and quickly used Protect to shield ourselves from the Pidgeot emerging from top of the trees, his laughs echoing the route as he flew above us to land ten paces a away from us; Nathaniel. But he wasn't alone. Behind flew landing beside him was a Charizard, but this Charizard wasn't a normal one, one of the human turned Pokemon. This Charizard's scales were all black, and its eyes, the scleras were white, and the pupils and iris' sort of an orange color close to red, kind of like mine. "You being this close to Team Doom ain't exactly what the boss wanted yet… boss didn't like it how you folks knew of this place already, not sure how you found us this quick… I was expecting more; to see more of the Unova region before the fun- ah ya know what? Forget this stupid thing!" He said angrily as he kicked the dirt and walked a little bit off towards the side.

"Nathaniel, please calm down and let us think about this." The Charizard calmly said, a feminine voice, a mature voice, speaking softly as she tried to calm Nathaniel as he sent small bursts of fire from the tips of his wings at the grass below his feet. "It is what the boss has ordered you to do. Now I don't like what she has done either, but it's either this or be forced to by her."

"No," he spat, turning to the Charizard. "When I joined Team Doom, I expected something more, something better than that failed Annihilation thing. I got this, this change from a human to a fricken Pokemon that can't even open bottles or cans properly with these wings or talons!" He said holding up his wings to her first before he stood up on one leg and showed her his talon. "I can't even live normally anymore. All Doom members who have turned into these abominations have an extended life, far beyond what a human could ever live to be. I'll have to live the rest of my life with this, and I already hate it! This power is something alright; sure I could live with it… if I wasn't a dang sacrifice for that Shiny Bitch!"

"I don't like it anymore than you do, none of us do. But our only two choices will all lead to our deaths." The Charizard said as Nathaniel turned his head towards us, glaring as he did so.

"Yeah, I just with it lasted longer. But then you arrived with your allies back at Mistralton City!" He shouted as he pointed to me with his wing. "It was a simple task. A quick and easy thing I was ordered to do; to make sure the shipment was sent back to base on time… then you came and, and Shiny Latias, that bitch! She has made me the first one to become a sacrifice!"

"Sacrifice? What do you mean?" Isaac questioned the Pidgeot, but his question remained unanswered since all Nathaniel did was stare at Isaac for a short moment and smiled.

"I remember you, the Sissy boy." he said pointing with his wing directly at Isaac. "Yeah, way back when I were still human, you and I met back in the Desert Resort. You were tryin' got protect those Sandile's while I was tryin' to do an honest job." Nathaniel then pointed at Sakura with his other wing. "And you girly, you were there at the Desert Resort tryin' to talk some sense into me. Little did that do, I'm still doing what I love… or used to."

"And you, the Espeon gal." He smirked at Espeon as she glared right back at him. "I remember you when the boss just snapped the cuties neck. At first I figured since you are always hanging around the boy a lot, I kinda thought you were like lovers at first."

"I don't love him!" She quickly snapped, her face quickly becoming bright red. Nathaniel snickered, shaking his head. "And why did you bring that up all of a sudden?!"

"Of course you don't. But anyway, looking at it my way, all of this…" He gestured with his wings at all of us. "Seems like a happy friendship you got here, something anyone would love to have; three really good friends who have been with you through so much, would be a shame to have all of this… gone." Nathaniel lowered his wings to his sides. And at that moment, I grabbed by scalchop and readied myself to use Razor Shell.

"I am the first to be killed by you Zack, so says the bitch… to be honest, I don't see this ending with me dead."

"I'm not going to kill anyone." I argued, refusing to kill him or anyone else again. Absorbing a defeated Pokemon's life energy, killing them while making me stronger, surely Shiny Latias wants something out of it, but what? Whatever the reason, I refused to kill him, and so I told him this. "Shiny Latias obviously wants something if I kill you and the other Team Doom members. I'm not falling for it!"

He sighed and nodded his. "Well then… I guess I'll have to do this then." He then held up his wing and then all around us the bushes began to rustle as small sounded ball-like things being thrown at us, thankfully the Protect me and Espeon used bounced the balls off and fell down landing just near to the protect bubble. Surrounding us were what I first thought were rocks, was something I then realized were in fact grenades being thrown at us. Then one by one, sort of like a domino effect, all of the grenades exploded, and our Protect me and Espeon had created all around us had shattered slowly breaking up near me first while I took in some of the explosion.

Ringing in both of my ears, my face all numb, and smoke everywhere I looked, my chest burning. The left side of my chest had been burnt, a five inch wide black mark. With our Protects gone we were left exposed by an attack from the Doom soldier's behind the bushes or Nathaniel and the Charizard. Quickly standing and trying my best to ignore the pain on my chest, trying my hardest to activate another Protect to shield us all from any incoming attacks. Espeon was now standing beside me, her Protect now active and shielded her first, then mine and Espeon's Protect connected making it stronger, making it bigger to surround both Sakura and Isaac to protect them.

Then they fell.

The thing I saw first amongst the cloud of smoke surrounding us were Sakura and Isaac standing where they once stood before mine and Espeon's first use of the Protect, before the grenades. Bullets were being shot at Sakura and Isaac, first the legs, then moving up until bullets were sent shooting into their backs right through their chests. With our Protects surrounding them, the firing stopped, and Sakura and Isaac still moving, blood pouring, I ran over to Sakura while Espeon to Isaac.

"S-Sakura! Isaac!" I gasped, looking over at each wound on Sakura's body first then Isaac's. Twenty two I saw on Sakura's body from her legs all the way up to her chest. Isaac had more in him, thirty I'd probably say, more on his leg than his chest. Sakura wheezed as she coughed up blood as her eyes flickered open and shut as she gritted her teeth. I held her close. "Sakura, hang in there. Please!"

"I-it hurts…" She sniffed as tears leaked from her eyes. "Z-Zack… ah…!" Her hand went limp, she remained motionless… she was gone.

"Isaac!" I heard Espeon say as she leaned beside Isaac's side. Looking up at Isaac, staring at his face, he was already dead. I didn't know how I felt at that moment, there were so many emotions flooding into me; sadness, confusion, and then anger for what they did to them. Anger then sparked the voices in my head to return echoing the same thing over and over again; 'kill them' 'kill them' repeatedly. It was starting again, that seemingly uncontrollable anger began to rise within me, but I couldn't control it this time, they had to pay for what they did.

"Soldier's return to base… here it comes." I could hear Nathaniel say to the other soldier's hidden amongst the bushes. I could also hear one soldier shout back before running with the others. 'Nice knowing you boss! We'll drink for you!'

"W…we had a plan…" I muttered, staring at the bodies of Sakura and Isaac as they lay their dead beside me. "I wanted t-to go with them and help Isaac on his s-search… S-Sakura she wanted to help Pokemon… she needed to go to the academy soon; and you… You took them from me!" I shouted before breaking my Protect and running charging towards Nathaniel intent on killing him, tearing him to shreds or whatever would make things better, make what I was feeling inside, make it go away.

Nathaniel flew up and his whole body engulfed in flames. "The hell with this! I ain't gonna get myself killed for her stupid game! I'll just kill the boy and that'll be it, no one else has to die! Hah! Oh, how I'd love to see the look on the idiots face when she hears her plans have been fucked up!"

"Nathaniel, please. You were ordered to attack Zack, not kill his allies." The Charizard tried to calm Nathaniel down as he shot off burst of fire balls down to the ground trying to hit me, but each ball of fire missed by mere inches.

"Shut up Martha!" He shouted at the Charizard known as Martha. "I have a future to live to see with my very own eyes; to bring life back to the hunter's guild. I want what I had before i joined up with you freaks! I want my old crew back… but that Shiny Bitch killed them! So why should I allow myself just to be killed by this Dewott when I can easily kill him myself, that that Shiny Bitch will get her neck sliced open by yours truly!"

Then one of his attacks, a really powerful one hit me, sending me flying fast slamming into a tree at the side of the road. But he didn't stop at that, Nathaniel used Flamewheel and hit me with it two times before Espeon moved in and attacked Nathaniel with her Psybeam, pushing him back allowing me to stand and ready to fight.

"Wait young one." Martha pleaded as she stood in between me and Nathaniel. "Please don't do this. This is what Shiny Latias wants!" But I refused to listen to her. In a blink of an eye, I stabbed the Charizard into her chest, where her heart should be and pushed her aside with my Psychic to move onto Nathaniel. In my eyes I saw a member of Team Doom; I saw the enemy stand in front of me. Espeon saw this, shocked at what I had done. The old me, the normal me would've done something else, something that didn't just kill others and push them aside.

I heard Nathaniel scream the Charizard's name before he attacked once again with the same Flamewheel at me, but I was quick and immediately grabbed him with my Psychic as he approached. In my angered state, the voices told me over and over again to kill him, but the question that lingered in my mind was 'how to do it?' followed by the suggestions of 'slow' 'quick' _'Just finish him off now, I don't care _how' I thought as I held him up, preparing to strike him.

Holding him up in place with my Psychic preparing to end it then and there for him, Nathaniel quickly said "With all of that power boy, you'll become strong. Strong enough for the shiny bitch to use. Y-yeah, she'll use you alright; use you for her own doing. Probably make you gut your Latias first before anything else!" Then all of a sudden, Nathaniel's wings were engulfed in fire, preparing to attack me to break free from his Psychic grip.

But then, Espeon suddenly ran in front of me and jumped up towards him, one paw hovering above his head, and the other pulling Nathaniel's head up to her face so their eyes locked. "Look into my eyes!" She ordered as Espeon's eyes glow a bright purple. Nathaniel did so and his eyes too glow purple, but immediately as he did so, Nathaniel started screaming, but the moment he did that, Espeon jumped off of him and used her own Psychic move against him, breaking my own Psychic off of him sending him crashing down into the dirt with a heavy slam leaving him lying there twitching violently. "You're as good as dead!"

What Espeon did to him was access his mind with her Psychic energy, to concentrate most of her power inside him using it to crush his mind, leave him unable to move, but still aware of what was happening on the outside.

Nathaniel lay there unable to move despite small bursts of fire lighting up at the wing tips, trying to move, trying to get up to fight, but I wasn't going to give him that chance. So I walked up fast to him with my scalchop in paw, used Razor Shell and struck down as hard as I could stabbing him right into Nathaniel's back. But he didn't scream, never made a noise, he was dead, and as soon as he drew his last breathe, the same blue mist-like energy emerged from his body and drifted up fast towards me.

"Zackary, are you alright?" She asked, walking in front of me and placing her paw on my chest. My angered state had died down, I was back to normal again, no more voices, no more violent urge. I shook my head and turned towards them, walking up to them, wanting to believe all of this was an illusion of some sort. Jessica was here doing this hidden somewhere within the route… but she wasn't. this was real.

Kneeling down in between the bodies of Sakura and Isaac, I felt a part of me dying alongside with them. My friends I had met when I was just starting out, everything we had done together, taking down Team Annihilation, and they were now dead. The future we had planned, it was gone and it left me feeling lost and bitter on everything. This was what I was trying to say to them, that this was what I was trying to warn them about. Punching the dirt in front of me, I cried. I hated myself for letting them die, I failed them…

A future of us searching the Unova region for the herb, a rare herb said to grant the user the ability to communicate and understand with Pokemon, a future were a young girl lost in the world finds meaning by becoming a nurse to help Pokemon, a future where all roads all three of us walk down would be reconnected and we would be reunited once more, a future that can never be.

To be continued...

* * *

**Trivia:**

Originally Nathaniel was alone here rather than have Team Doom Soldier's and the human turned Pokemon Team Doom member Martha to back him up.


	32. Chapter 32 The Four Days

Chapter 32 – The Four Days

* * *

****

**Opelucid City – Espeon's POV**

Three days we were here in Opelucid city, the first day was for when Zackary alone went to the Opelucid city museum to meet with other members of the Ssvior's. He didn't say why he left that morning, or that Team Doom were going to be there, but if he did, no doubt we would've came along to help out. The leader of the small group of Doom soldier's was a Rayquaza named Cornelius Stone, the son of Clark Stone lured them all there making sure Zack was still on track on finding Team Doom, and by doing so ended up killing Clark Stone.

The second day after Clark Stone the leader of The Savior's had been killed, Zack was called out on a mission to secure route 10; a call we later found out was a fake. Zack received a call to check out route 10, but it wasn't from any Savior member, but in fact a Team Doom member who had somehow infiltrated the connection of the Savior's device and gave him a false mission to enter route 10 to lure him into a trap. A trap which resulted in Zackary's two friends; Sakura Kanai and Isaac Anderson to be killed by Team Doom soldier's. The leader of that group; Nathaniel had ordered the soldier's to kill everyone with Zackary, but because me and him had used Protect to shield us from the attacks, Sakura and Isaac were the only ones who were caught in the crossfire. Zack then entered what he called his 'Angered state' a state in which he becomes enraged and kills whatever caused his anger. Martha, a Charizard stood in pleading for him to stop the fighting saying that what he was doing was what Shiny Latias wanted, but Zackary didn't seem to listen to her and just straight up killed her and tossing her aside to move onto Nathaniel.

I was shocked to see Zackary do something like that, almost scared when he did that, it was as if I were looking at another Dewott, a really scary and violent one. So when it came for Zackary to kill Nathaniel, I saw what he was about to do, he wasn't going to just stab him with a Razor Shell, he was about to do something more, something a lot more gruesome and bloody. Zackary's Psychic power was building up to the point that it wouldn't just kill him, it was building to do a whole lot more than that, probably take out the entire route if I let him. I rushed towards Nathaniel and attacked him myself, breaking Nathaniel's mind so he couldn't get up again. Then when it came for Zackary to stab him with his Razor Shell, he did but Zackary was calmer, not in his angered state anymore. I had never been afraid of Zackary before, but seeing him like that… it was like seeing a different side of him, one which I didn't like.

Then what comes after two was obviously three, the third day and Zackary hasn't talked much since the death of Sakura and Isaac. Sometimes entering the Dark Place in his room of the Pokemon center for a long period of time, 10 hours at the most. Sometimes while watching him in that state when entering the Dark Place, I saw his legs move a little, almost as if he were about to stand. Now being a Psychic type and entering the Dark Place, standing was a bad thing to do. In the Dark Place, you must never stand or walk while in this state otherwise your mind will be lost, for months, years, maybe forever. Thankfully I was there to watch over him to make him sit there until he had left the Dark Place and back to reality.

For those three days, three days of lose, questions and answers on how to move on, it all started on the first day when we came to this city. It was about Zackary's mom he lost before we began looking for Team Doom; something had reminded him of her.

* * *

****

**Opelucid City – First Day**

Zackary spent the day reading files and documents about the gray Dewott we met on the Tubeline bridge by the name of Ren who revealed to him that he is his brother. So that's why Zackary was reading about him, he wanted to verify this sudden revelation. I walked with Zackary around the city for a while, glancing at trinkets here and there all without saying a word. I wanted to start something at least, to break the silence between us, but all of the things I wanted to say all kinda seemed meaningless and not really the best moment to say what I wanted to say to him without making things awkward.

We must've walked through the city for an hour until we decided to walk inside a large mall full of this and that, mainly towards the furniture section full of furniture (obviously) checking out the beds and bookcases. Suddenly, Zackary gasped and slowly walked down a large empty aisle full of vases and pots of different sizes, flowered patterns and sizes. Not sure why at first as to the reason he gasped all of a sudden and walked down the aisle so I followed, and he stopped in front of one particular pot he placed his paw on.

"My mom had a pot just like this in the kitchen near the sink." He said as his expression changed to a more saddened one than his calmer one before. This pot definitely reminded him of his late mother. After all of the years I have spent with Zackary and stayed inside his house, I don't ever recall seeing a pot like this one in the kitchen. A white round/oval-like pot with green thorns and flower what I assume are roses… crudely painted roses as if painted by someone who had never even seen a rose before… and it costs almost eight thousand? This is like something you'd see in a discount store worth less than this. "A year before I joined the Savior's, my mom went into pottery, she made a pot just like this one, only that this one is rounder and fatter than the one my mom made. But the flower pattern on it is similar. A month before I left home, I accidentally broke it while playing inside the house with Latias against my mom's wishes… earlier; I was reminded of my mom when we first entered the city. Flowers at a flower cart just outside the Pokemon center I saw… a lot of things lately, a lot of thing have reminded me of her, about all of this that's going on right now." Zack walked away from the pot down the aisle at a slow pace, I quickly caught up and walked with him.

"After Shiny Latias killed her, I was so worried that she would hurt someone else I knew; friends, family, anyone. I just had to stop her, alone if I had to. But when you guys decided to come with me, I feared that I would lose all of you if you came along. If I did lose anyone else, all of you… I don't want to have things like the flowers outside the Pokemon center and the pot; I don't them reminding me constantly on what I have lost…"

"Zackary… I can't promise you we won't lose anymore of our friends and loved ones, but I do know one thing; it's that Shiny Latias and Team Doom, they will pay for what they have done; they won't get away with this. We've held our own." I said, remembering all of our Team Doom encounters thus far. All of our idiotic foes facing us every chapter almost and repeating Doom this and Doom that… and something along the lines of Shiny Latias is a bitch. "Surviving for this long, together we are strong. If we keep this up I'm pretty sure we'll see the next day. But you know we did get this far by fighting together rather than fighting alone. Fighting alone is hard, but together we can face any foe."

"Yeah." He smiled, stopping as soon as we reached the end of the aisle. More like a crossroad with three directions to take in this mall; left, forward, right, toys, medical, to the exit. "I just hope we can get through this."

"Don't worry about it. We'll be just fine."

And then we walked to the right, towards the exit of the mall. I returned back to the center to rest up, Zack stayed out in the city some more before he returned later that night. And tomorrow Zack would go out early in the morning to face Team Doom within the museum, where Clark Stone would die.

* * *

****

**Opelucid City – The Second Day**

Clark Stone had died on the second day while we were here in this city starting to prepare for our final battle against Team Doom. It was a lose The Savior's mourned giving them a stronger reason to stay and fight, those that chose to remain that is. Our strength was in the hundreds, low hundreds with nothing but whatever supplies we had with us. Against an entire army within Team Doom's hideout no doubt and Shiny Latias with the last remaining members of the Team Doom Eight this fight would be difficult, maybe even suicidal. But these people and Zackary were committed on fighting Team Doom, no matter the odds.

Zackary stayed inside his room for the entire day in the Dark Place again, training in order to prepare himself for the battle. At least that's what he told us he was doing while in that state. Because every time he clocked out of that state he would leave somewhere to else, or walk around the city, even at night. I suspected he was in that state to remember past memories.

Following him, Zackary walked for hours from the late afternoon until long into the night just aimlessly walking anywhere a street would take him, sometimes even circling around the same street. When I finally caught up to him, Zackary stopped and noticed me, sighing before he asked. "Have you been following me?" I nodded, seeing there was no point in lying to him. "I have been thinking about a lot of things; like I wasn't strong enough to do anything about what had happened with Clark… how he died, I failed him…"

Nudging him lightly with my head and walking to the side of him positioning myself so Zackary had his paw on top of my head. It was something I did when he were still a human whenever he was feeling blue. I did this, cheered him up and he would most times lightly scratch at the back of my ears. "You didn't fail him. And he knows you didn't fail him." Zackary's expression didn't change, so I had to find the correct words to help him cheer up; a reminder of his highest rank a Savior could ever become? His death will be avenged? "Clark was proud of you, you know. He was proud that you Zack joined the Savior's and helped defeat Team Annihilation, proud that you have become a member of the Savior's so many could ever hope to achieve one day. Not only have you done so much for him, but you are also a rank 01. Now he wouldn't have given you that rank if you didn't deserve it." Zackary then stroked me behind the ear; I looked up at his face to see that he was smiling again.

"Yeah, he was proud. And I aim to continue to do so until Team Doom and Shiny Latias are finished with." Zackary then wasn't going to let the death of his leader get to him. He was willing to face Team Doom head on even despite the numbers against us

But the next day, a day after the death of his leader, two of his friends died by the hands of Team Doom. Once more, Team Doom had taken the lives of people Zackary cared for.

* * *

****

**Opelucid City – The Third Day**

Death of two people, a boy, a blonde boy early twenties hailing from Black City, a girl a year younger than Zackary; eighteen, both were murdered by Team Doom. Sakura Kanai and Isaac Anderson, two long time friends of Zackary had been shot down by soldiers under the command by Nathaniel, once a human became a red Pidgeot with fire type moves teamed up with a black Charizard going by the name of Martha. Zack lost control of his anger and killed them both leaving him with both his life and mine.

The bodies of Sakura and Isaac were taken away to the coroner while a large number of Savior agents patrolled the area. A 'false command' was all they told us after Zackary revealed to them that he received a message for him to patrol the area. No one in city gave him the order to go out to route 10. We quickly learnt that someone else had hijacked the signal and broadcasted their own set of commands for Zackary to follow, lured him to route 10 walking him into a trap Team Doom had set up.

Of course Zackary was furious at this and chose to walk around the city hours at a time before returning to the center, sometimes his eyes began glowing red signalling the return of his anger, but his eyes stopped glowing almost instantly as if he didn't want it to return. He would become uncontrollable if his anger returned; he may very well injure the people and Pokemon who he cares for.

That day Zackary remained silent, kept to himself rather than be with others who wanted to comfort him on the loss of his friends. Nothing but observing him and making sure he wasn't hurting himself or letting his anger control him like the voices wanted was my plan for the three days while Latias prepared herself on facing Team Doom and meeting with her sister. It wasn't as though Latias was ignoring Zackary after the death of Sakura and Isaac, she wanted to comfort him, but he always remained silent, like he wasn't even listening to us. I thought by the end of the third day Zack would be all set to go out to face Team Doom ready for the next day, then again he wasn't like that, he cared about his friends and wanted to mourn, but I should know, losing someone so close to you, you would need time to mourn.

* * *

****

**Opelucid City – The Fourth Day**

I found him this time on that day at the city park just sitting there on a bench looking up at the orange sky as the sun began to set. Walking up to the bench he sat on, without uttering a word, Zackary spoke first.

"I wanted to protect them, but I couldn't… I wanted to have a future where year down the line I would meet up with them again, a-and share our experiences, our stories of what we have done thus far!" He shouted, clenching his fists tightly whilst gritting his teeth. "Why can't things go my way for once?"

"Everything doesn't work out the way you want it to, as harsh as it sounds, t-that's the way it is." I quietly said to him offering him comfort sitting next to him. He accepted it and placed his arm around my shoulder as we sat together on that park bench. "Sakura and Isaac… it was a terrible thing what happened to them. But Team Doom won't get away with this that I can tell you. But we mustn't lose ourselves along the way."

"The voices in my head echo all the time now, they tell me to kill them; Team Doom for what they've done… I- try to fight it, but I sometimes feel as though that I should just… give in to it and-"

"Zack!" I snapped, "You should never kill anyone, it isn't you to go around killing folks. What happened to the guy who would stop at nothing to go out of his way to help the helpless to those that may seem that they can never be saved?" His attitude was changing fast over the past three days, from Clark's death, to Sakura and Isaac's. The voices were telling him to kill, and he was starting to listen to them. And I had to bring him back, I had to bring Zackary before it had changed him to one that I didn't like; a violent cold blooded murderer, that wasn't the Zackary I loved. "You would never hurt anyone. When we first met, I could see that you were a good person, one who is kind to friends and to others. You're not a murderer Zack. It's what Shiny Latias wants; it's what the Doom serum has done to you. Don't let it change you." Zackary turned his head down at the ground, tears forming at his eyes.

"I don't want to kill anyone, I'm afraid that when it comes to facing the human turned Pokemon members of Team Doom that I might kill them, something Shiny Latias wants me to do. I don't know why, but it can't be for a good reason." Zack closed his eyes. "I was afraid at the beginning that if you guys joined with me while searching for Team Doom, that someone or all of you guys could be hurt or killed…"

"Zack?" I said to him as we looked into each other's eyes. And it was one of rare occurrences that I ever call him 'Zack' "No more will get hurt or killed because of Team Doom. If we fight together rather than alone, we'll come out of this alive. Zack, don't ever change. Don't give in to another side that you are not. You are a good guy Zack, don't ever forget who you are."

"E-Espeon…" It was all he said before a tear ran down his cheek. He hugged me; I hugged him back listening to him cry as quietly as he could. I only held him closer, tighter and cried with him. Somewhere deep down inside of me I knew that some of us would not make it by the end of our battle against Team Doom. In that moment, I remembered Sakura and Isaac when we were at that Orange Diner before they were killed, how we were going to come back to try out more food together. I didn't know them that well; I only saw them once or twice before we began our search for Team Doom. They were good people, and they didn't deserve this.

With the battle just hours away not knowing if this could be our last ever moment together, I wanted to tell him, I needed him to listen to what I had always wanted t say to him, how I felt, but I could do it. Not after what has happened. So I just reluctantly had to put it on hold till whenever…

With the streetlights lighting up and the night fell onto the city, me and Zackary stayed in that park close to midnight just watching the stars in silence before heading back to the center to rest up.

I wanted to tell Zackary about Latias being pregnant, but like the idiot that I was I remained silent about it and let Latias go into battle… not knowing what would happen in the end…

* * *

****

**Team Doom HQ – Grand Hall – Jessica's POV**

There I was stood on top of the stage in front of hundreds of Team Doom's finest awaiting to hear their leader's announcement today. But I wasn't alone, there to my right was Cornelius sitting and leaning against the back wall with a smirk on his face, still proud of himself for killing his father yesterday, saying it was his 'happiest moment and would make his mother proud!' in between Cornelius and me were Ren with his arms crossed looking bored as usual. To the left were a green Ninetail's, a human turned Pokemon by the name of Rose. Now I don't know much about her other than that she was once a soldier at Team Annihilation, a really dangerous one and has earned herself quite the reputation for it, and she hangs out with Ren a lot, and I mean a lot, sort of in a way you can tell there is definitely something going on between them. Next to Rose was the seventh human turned Pokemon; Henry. Believe it or not, but this guy was turned into a Regirock, a golden one with red uh, eyes I think. Henry was a scientist for Annihilation and he kind of still is since he barely leaves the base and tends to stay in his lab to experiment on this and that, whatever is alive an dead.

Where Henry stands, Martha stood there, the black Charizard who was killed yesterday along with Nathaniel. Martha was… she was a teacher back at Team Annihilation's old base who taught the children there basic lessons such spellings, languages, and maths. Martha was one of the rare ones I liked being with, the only one I could trust here, she was like a mother to me. After I turned into a Pokemon and she turned herself into a Charizard thanks to the Doom serum, she tried to talk to me, to tell me things would be alright. But I ignored her and pushed her away when all this time she just wanted to help me, when I was lost and confused about everything, about why Shiny Latias wanted me to become a member of Team Doom, why I was turned into a Pokemon, why I was meant to be a sacrifice for Zack.

Martha wasn't a violent person; even in her Pokemon form she was still kind to others, never giving up on them if they needed help.

Then there levitated in front of us was Shiny Latias, staring at us one by one for a long time each with a satisfied smile. She didn't see us as anything other than as pawns to be used and discarded whenever she pleased. How come the others didn't see this? Why did they choose to stay here and wait to be chosen as a sacrifice? Maybe like with me they didn't have anywhere else to go.

"I welcome you all to this meeting, my sons and daughters of Team Doom!" Shiny Latias spoke into the microphone, her rarely heard calm and soothing voice echoed the grand hall as the soldier's before her cheered at the sound of her voice as she spoke to them. "Two of the seven human turned Pokemon of Team Doom have been vanquished by our enemy known as Zack Raines, he and his allies; The Savior's know of our location here within Route 10. Now comes the time we must prepare ourselves for the battle to come. Very soon, The Savior's will fall, and Team Annihilation will be reborn and this region will belong to us. The world my father Juro envisioned years ago will finally become a reality!" The grand hall suddenly erupted with cheers from the entire crowd of soldier's within, and Shiny Latias continued. "Zack Raines must not be killed by anyone. As much as I would love to see him dead, I want that world Juro envisioned becoming a reality. His allies are expendable, so feel free to eliminate all who dare oppose us. I don't care if they surrender, kill them. Because in my world, The Savior's will be no more, mentioned only in tales of their defeat. Soldiers, prepare for battle!"

The entire crowd once again cheered and clapped as their leader announced the final battle against The Savior's had now begun. It would be a battle with Shiny Latias' soldiers, the last remaining members of the Team Doom Eight; a few mecha's against barely a few hundred remaining Savior agents, Zack and his friends, and with me helping him defeat Team Doom once and for all by slowing them down. I just had to be ready before then.

Then after the cheering from the soldiers had all but died down in noise, Shiny Latias turned to us, smiling. "Congratulations every one of you, you all of you have been chosen as a sacrifice for Zack Raines. But I must thank you all for your dedication for Team Doom after all of these years; we couldn't have gotten this far without your help." Her smile widened. She was happy, but not for losing us, but for how close she was on reaching her goal. The other members of Doom, mainly Ren I could hear growl at that along with Cornelius… more like cackling… yeah, he was a weird one. My heart then skipped a beat as Shiny Latias suddenly glanced down at me; I could hear her chuckle amongst the crowd of soldiers still here in the room as they made their way outside to prepare for battle.

"Jessica," Shiny Latias said, crossing her arms as she smiled even more, our eyes locked as she chuckled softly, she grinned as her sharp teeth were now visible "Tell me Jessica, why are you helping Zack Raines? Did you really think I wouldn't know about your secret meetings with Zack?"

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

The end section with Jessica at Team Doom was originally set to appear in the next chapter, a chapter which would instead be focused on the Team Doom Eight members.


	33. Chapter 33 Team Doom Origins

Chapter 33 - Team Doom Origins 

* * *

**Team Annihilation HQ Library – Number 01. Cornelius**

In the early hours of a new morning within the library of Team Annihilation's hideout was one young man sitting beside a window finishing off his book he had read for several hours all in one sitting from beginning to end, a tragic tale of acceptance and romance to two young adults; one man and one woman of different class. It was a tale the young man loved to read, and that young man was named…

"Cornelius, my boy, what are you doing here this early in the library? Only three more hours till the chefs have prepared breakfast at the cafeteria." The man cheerfully said, an elderly man approached Cornelius. The elderly man known to many throughout the Unova region and all Savior members knew well and their sworn enemy for years; Juro. Juro, an elderly man perhaps no older than Clark Stone, probably in his fifties I'd say, bald, a white beard, and sunken chestnut eyes. He wore a pressed black suit and tie; the only clothing anyone ever saw him in. This had jokingly been viewed by many who worked with the man to say that he always wore the same thing every day. Juro, that name isn't exactly his true name, no one, not even those closest to him know what his true name is or where he came from, who his family are, or if he has anyone left.

"Why I am reading from this book." Cornelius replied, lifting up the book towards Juro so he could see the front cover of it. "It is one of the few books I love to read from whenever I get the chance to do so. Missions bore me so, but reading this book, it brings a smile to my face, it makes me feel… that this book is speaking directly to me."

"Is that so? I have never read that book before. It must be quite the book if you can't put it down." Juro chuckled, sitting at the seat opposite Cornelius. "Perhaps after you have read it to completion that I could read it?"

Cornelius sighed and smiled. "Why of course you can read it. I'll be finished within the hour if I can."

"Ah, then I shall not keep you then." Juro said allowing Cornelius to lift up the book again to continue to read his book. Juro remained on the opposite side of him in silence, staring at him with a broad smile. Cornelius at first chose to ignore this and give him the book and be on his way. Five minutes he was still smiling at him. Then after ten minutes, Cornelius had finally had enough and lowered the book onto his lap, furious at the constant staring from his boss. Cornelius was a violent member of Team Annihilation, mostly working alone and being alone away from others for how much he liked to hurt others. If Juro had been someone else that day, Cornelius would see to it that they would leave him alone for good, not caring of the consequences after, but seeing this as it was his boss, the man who took him under his wing to join Team Annihilation, but he had to control himself. Drawing his breath back, refusing to yell at the man, he asked as calmly as he could. "Is there something wrong, sir?"

Juro chuckled and then said "Well you see Cornelius, I couldn't help but ask you something important, something I had discussed with the other members of Team Annihilation." he stopped and looked around before continuing. "Do you enjoy your job? Going out there and coming back, same old same old?" Cornelius was confused, but nodded in response. "Well me and others have thought about it and have discussed that based on your good long service here at Team Annihilation, your amazing world over the years that we are proudly able to announce to you a job opportunity, one that may be very suited for your… talents."

"Oh? And what might this job opportunity be?" Cornelius asked, wanting to get back to reading from his book.

"We are calling it the 'Doom Project' a secret plan we have initialized not long ago should anything ever happen to me or Team Annihilation." Juro pulled out some documents from his suit pocket and placed it down neatly on the table between the two. "This plan will involve eight known associates or people who were connected to Team Annihilation; scientists, young students, soldier's, perhaps on one of our enemies now a member of the Savior's. This eight will lead us, my legacy towards the promised world. If I can't do this or Annihilation, then Doom can."

"Yeah? So what's so special about this project of yours, old man?"

"We have created a special serum we call 'Doom Serum' it is a special serum once injected into the body of a human, they will transform into a Pokemon, giving them strength and unique powers the form they take on cannot learn."

Cornelius scoffed and closed his book. "A project just so you can transform eight others to become Pokemon? Man, what kind of pathetic loser would accept this? Hah, changing their original forms… how pathetic. And besides, Team Annihilation won't fall, because of that weird machine you are building, Team Annihilation will succeed and this nonsense of this so-called Doom will be a thing of the past."

"Really…? The machine is running well as expected; maybe it'll be finished within four months or five. But I do like to have a backup plan should things so sideways." Juro said shifting the document closer towards Cornelius. "With your violent tendency- no offence, but I believe this project is suited for you. A man with you talents could help bring this project to life; it may even bring you one step further on finding what you were looking for." Cornelius raised an eyebrow at that, he was interested. To find what he was looking for, now what was that? Power? Wealth? Revenge? Possible revenge against his own father; Clark Stone. Everyone within Team Doom had a connection with me. Whatever the reason that may be, Cornelius grabbed the document and began to read, not long after reading, he smiled, and accepted the job offer and become first one of eight members of the Team Doom's Eight.

In a matter of weeks Cornelius moved from one location to another; route 10 to a building hidden behind the mountains, the building that would become Team Doom's HQ to be turned into a Rayquaza, a sight he at first was shocked at, cried at, and laughed like a madman before killing the doctors surrounding him to test his new strength, and the results; he was pleased with his new form.

* * *

****

**Team Doom HQ Training Room – Number 02. Nathaniel**

Flying around the training room of Team Doom's headquarters to get a feel of his new body and form, he mastered flying within a matter of eighteen hours, two days after the transformation which had altered his body from human to a red Pidgeot able to use fire type moves.

"_Practice makes perfect. Movement in a new way is vital for my future now, no more usage of my legs since they are just short and wouldn't provide much but short hops."_ He thought as he avoided posts set up around the room as he flew faster and faster testing his new form still. _"Flying… heh, who would've thought that I would be flying like this…" _Nathaniel narrowly avoided the tall thick beams, deliberately flying close to them to test his agility and mobility. He avoid nine consecutive beams all together out of the fifteen that were placed, but as soon as he reached the tenth beam, his left wing hit the beam, and hard sending him crashing down onto the padded floor with a loud grunt that echoed the room. "Ugh… d-damn… that hurt. I am definitely gonna feel that one tomorrow!"

"Hello Nathaniel, how is your training coming along in your new form?" A voice called to him from the entrance of the room, one Nathaniel didn't recognize. Craning his head up before cracking his neck. There levitating at the door of the room was none other than the leader of Team Doom; Shiny Latias. "Not even twenty-four hours in and I see you have already received your first battle scar." She laughed as she levitated over to Nathaniel and glanced at his injured wing before he got up and shook himself.

"Phht! Barely did anything to me. Most likely to give me a little bruise, but nothin' that'll affect me later on today. No bones broken, I'm all good." He said wincing as his wing started to sting. Trying to hide his pain to make a good impression on his boss. If it was one thing when working with a new business partner or two is that he had to make a good impression on them, show them no sign of weakness. Not only did he want to do that, he already knew of Shiny Latias and her sadistic ways on torturing those she views as weak. He didn't want to end up like the other failures.

"Really now?" She asked, examining his wing more closely before turning away to fly around the beams, but at a much faster and closer rate than what Nathaniel had done. "Don't hurt yourself too badly in the training room, cause if you bleed out or break your neck while you are in here, well things won't go well for you. You may as well be the first sacrifice of Team Doom. But first we might use you as a test subject for the other members." She chuckled amusingly to herself as she flew past each beam.

"Bitch…" He whispered as quietly as he could, already showing signs that he despised her. Not that he had only problem working with her, he just felt it all strange that a Pokemon, Juro's pet was the leader of Team Doom, he thought an actual human being was in charge here. Then again, she can speak human language fluently, perhaps with her connection with Juro and the fact she can speak is the reason for her being the leader of Team Doom _'Or was there something else, another reason she is here?'_ he thought.

Shiny Latias stopped and levitated back down towards Nathaniel so that the two of them were at eye level with one another. "Are you enjoying yourself here within Team Doom's family? Are the facilities good?"

"Sure." He shrugged. "I haven't been around training rooms like this too often, so… it's good, no complaints so far." Nathaniel had only ever seen Shiny Latias once or twice around Team Doom's HQ, but never to mingle with her soldier's. it might be possible that she was after something, or wanted him to ask her. "So, is there anything I can help you with? Or do you check on all soldiers of your organization?"

She chuckled and shook her head. "Only those I believe will grant me victory, like you Nathaniel. You I believe will do a lot for Team Doom, gain victories for us in the many battles to come."

"Look boss, I ain't a fighter, I'm an ex-hunter. And before all of that when I was in Annihilation all I ever did was collect intel from the enemies we fought. I never did join in any battle, only collect information and that was it. So I am not sure what you can expect from a guy who didn't fight in any battle just turned into a Pokemon can do."

Shiny Latias relaxed her face and sighed. "Nothing yet. Which is why I expect you to train yourself into a fighter I would be proud of to have amongst my new family. So please Nathaniel, use your new moves and train."

"So who exactly is out enemy? What are you guys even fighting?" Nathaniel asked. "The Savior's, some other organization you guys hate so much?"

Shiny Latias turned to him and smiled again. "You joined because Juro offered you the position. The position of a new job to make you stronger. Now tell me, what was that reason?" She asked with a smirk, as if she already knew the answer to that.

It didn't take Nathaniel long to think about that, he always knew who it was he hated. "The boy, the girly, and the sissy boy (Zack, Sakura, and Isaac) came over to our hideout and shut our operation down, arresting my entire crew. Juro offered me the chance at revenge by joining his little club, so here I am. Now if ya finished with your twenty questions game how 'bout ya send me the location and I'll take 'em out within an hour at the least!"

"Really? Then maybe you should improve on your flying then, as well as your fire type moves." She chuckled once more before levitating out, but stopped at the door. "But remember Nathaniel, by the time we make our move on our enemy, I want you to be at the peak of your power, so don't be too far behind the others. When the time comes for us to let the world know of us, I want everything to be perfect. But don't you worry, Nathaniel. You'll face Zack Raines and his friends again. Let's just say he'll be just like you."

Shiny Latias left leaving Nathaniel to wonder what did she mean by 'just like you'? But Nathaniel shrugged it off and started to train with his new fire type moves.

Standing up, he harnessed the energy within himself to conjure up a fireball from his wingtips he was instructed by the scientists to do, but nothing came.

"I'll do it someday." He told himself. "I'll create fire. Then I'll take down the boy and his friends and leave this place and bring up my hunters guild once more… all I need is to get stronger! I have something to go back to; the hunters. I shall not allow that bitch to turn me into a sacrifice!"

* * *

****

**Team Annihilation HQ Garage – Number 03. Ren**

Ren was sitting inside the office of the garage reviewing the tapes of Juro before the downfall of Team Annihilation tying to understand his motives on creating both Team Annihilation and Team Doom. So far he only found that Juro wanted to recreate the world in his own image; a world without fear, hatred, war, a world were all can live in peace. Juro claimed that the machine he was working on before the downfall of Team Annihilation and his death said it could help him achieve this goal quicker. He said it wasn't a weapon of mass destruction, no nuclear weapon or super weapon with immense power to rival the strongest Pokemon alive, but it was said to do something else.

With Team Doom, a backup should Team Annihilation and their leader fall to the enemy, it would follow another plan, a plan involving the new serum created by Team Annihilation scientists; 'The Doom Serum' something which could alter ones appearance to that of a Pokemon with alternative fur color and eyes, one with unique powers the original could not learn. With the new leader; Shiny Latias, she could help shape the future to what Juro had envisioned. He had wanted to know more, wanted to know why he was here at Team Doom. He didn't agree with them, he didn't even trust them, anyone here at Team Doom, so why stay when he had another reason to leave?

Originally he had wanted after Team Annihilation had fallen, after the transformation, to go out and get his revenge on the boy who had taken one of his first friends he ever made within Team Annihilation; Rachel.

A woman in her mid twenties who had been his mentor, his companion in missions, and his friend who had taught him everything she knew ever since they Ren joined to become a soldier. At first he was ruthless, full of energy and didn't obey a command from anyone, but when Rachel was included in his training to become a soldier for Team Annihilation, she taught him discipline, how to survive, mostly things to help become the Pokemon he is today. He saw a boy no older than fifteen injured pushing Rachel off the railing to her doom, then confronting Juro and suffering the same fate as Rachel, killed by his own creations as the machine was destroyed with Team Annihilation with him. Immediately as he saw Rachel being killed, he had wanted to go down there and exact his revenge, to kill him, but he was forced out of the building by several other soldiers who had escaped to Team Doom HQ, and a week after Team Annihilation's downfall and Rachel's death, his transformation had begun.

Ren saw the injured boy push Rachel over the railings falling directly into the crowd of the reanimated corpses tearing her up, killing her in a way Ren still has nightmares about. His friend and mentor killed on the day she promoted him to a higher rank, a celebratory party was in the works that day to congratulate him, but he never had the chance to see it.

Waking up after a two week long coma, Ren had wanted to leave, often forcing himself up despite the pain he was feeling throughout his body because of the transformation. But the doctors had to strap him in, wanting to keep him at Team Doom by orders of their leader.

Their leader; Shiny Latias ordered multiple guards armed with tranquilizers to keep him in the medical ward until he had healed up, or calmed down. Being the ruthless disobedient boy he used to be, he tried to lie about being calm so he could backstab her and escape to hunt down the boy who had taken Rachel from him. At first, Ren assumed the Pokemon before him was just a flying type, a weak guard sent to make sure he'd never leave, an easy victim to take down with little effort, but his assumptions proved wrong just one step after he made his move to attack as he was instantly pushed up against a wall by Shiny Latias' Psychic, a Dragon Claw directly against his neck, slowly piercing it with blood tricking down his neck. If this had been any other soldier, they would most likely have been injured by now, broke a few bones here and there, but she didn't. Shiny Latias knew of his lose, how the boy Ren saw that day push his friend off a railing and into the same reanimated corpses that ended Juro's life, she knew the pain of lose well and wanted revenge on the same boy who had taken away the man she saw as her father.

She told him the boy's name, 'Zack Raines' and promised that she would do all she could to see to it that Zack would pay for what he had done revealing to him that she and him both shared hatred for the boy. She offered him training to use his new form to become strong, so strong that the boy could never fight back or defeat him. She promised him that as soon as his training was over, she would offer him the location of Zack Raines and then Rachel would be avenged.

* * *

****

**Team Annihilation HQ Dormitory – Number 04. Rose**

A green Ninetale's with red eyes shook herself dry after a morning swim inside the training room, one of many things she still had to get accustomed to in her new form. This Ninetale's was one of the Team Doom Eight, number 04; Rose. A Ninetale's with Poison type moves and an ability to poison foes draining their life energy and the only way to rid the poison effects is to defeat her, something past foes have never done all who have met their end. Rose had often stayed by herself within Team Doom, never mingling with the other soldier's or any other member of Team Doom, well except for one member, a long time friend she has always been with since she started working with Team Annihilation; Ren.

After the transformation, Rose without realizing she had already started to use her ability, one she could not find a way to stop it, an ability to poison whoever touched her. Just one touch and they would have mere minutes to render her unconscious. And ever since she discovered this, she had always been alone.

Some believed her to be a loner, some believed she were ordered not to communicate with anyone, but to a small few who knew her well know why she doesn't mingle with the others, or even talk to them. But those that did know stayed away, except for Ren who had always been by her side. The two loved one another and wanted to be with her as she wanted to be with him, but because of ability feared she would cause his death. But despite her ability, he still stayed by her side, not wanting her to be alone. Being a Pokemon for one month had changed everything for Rose, her lifestyle, her relationships, so much was changed.

Inside Rose's small white room with a large window was a single mattress laid out on the wooden floor next to a dresser with old clothes and personal belongings of Rose's old life as a human. She along with Jessica were the only two members of the human turned Pokemon Team Doom to take personal items with them or still keep them long after the transformation.

"How come you didn't want to come out today?" Rose turned to see Ren the gray Dewott standing in the corner of the room leaning his back against the wall. If this had been anyone else in the room Rose would've attacked, but since this was Ren, she let him stay inside while she shut the door behind her as she got up on top of her mattress to lie down. "I was waiting for you outside the front gate so we could have ourselves a picnic together, but you never showed up."

"I wasn't in the mood for a picnic." She spoke softly with a long yawn to follow. "I have been working/training for hours, Ren. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

The Dewott nodded and walked over to a small wooden box to sit on. "No it's okay, I get it that Shiny Latias wants us all to be in tip top shape before the plan can begin. 'Every one of you human turned Pokemon members of Doom must by the end of the month know all of your moves and have mastered your abilities or else!'" he said mockingly to which Rose laughed at.

"You do a good impression on the boss." She smiled exhaustingly, but kept her energy up for Ren wanting to spend time with him. "But I believe it to be more like. 'Muwahahaha, I Shiny Latias will rule over all! Bow before me!' or some other cliché thing she says whenever she talks to us about her plan."

"You got that right. Yesterday I found Shiny Latias talking with the new recruit; a scientist guy named Henry who used to work with Team Annihilation. She was saying how Zack and his friends took everything away from her and telling him how the world will soon be hers to control for an hour… an hour, can you believe that?"

"Jeez, doesn't she ever get tired of repeating the same thing over and over again to us?" Rose chuckled; Ren shook his head chuckling with her.

"Nope." The two stared at one another in silence before the entire room echoed with their laughter. If Shiny Latias had heard her soldiers mocking her like the two were, let's just say things wouldn't go well for them both. "But you know, we should go out soon, just the two of us relaxing, away from work, the boss. It could be fun." Rose finished chuckling to rest her head on her pillow.

"When has the Latias ever given us a break from work? All it has been is work, work, work and nothing pretty much else. No celebration for our good work, no morale boosting rewards, or even a 'well done' from her." She sighed, glancing up at Ren as he sat there looking directly at her. She felt regret for not going with him to the picnic. After work, everyone had two hours free to themselves before they turned in for the night. "S-sorry for missing out on your picnic. You went out of your way to do this…"

"Hey, it's okay. There's always next time." 'Next time' a word Rose heard or thought about a lot. It was something she had worried about when it came with hanging out with Ren, if he got too close to her without realizing it.

Usually when they do meet up, they would sometimes try to quickly kiss or to touch or to hold one another before the poison worsened, affecting Ren that it could kill him. The poison was fast acting giving the victim as little as five minutes to be treated. Antidotes worked normally, but it would always leave them feeling fatigued, a state in which Ren had been under many times. Luckily he would get treated fast with the doctor after treating him would turn to Rose and often say 'next time he may not be so lucky.' Then thoughts and nightmares played every time she thought about the next time she touched Ren or kissed him. Images of him dying and he could not be saved in time, and despite the countless warnings from the doctor that Rose would lose the only one left she had loved, next time could become the worse day of her life.

The day they met, they were just two ordinary solider out together on a mission to deliver large quantities of cargo to another small base near Castelia City. The two barely interacted much; it was just a mission to transport cargo, that's all. But the two halfway were attacked by thieves who had stumbled upon their truck and wanted the cargo not knowing what was actually inside (4 large boxes of wires, 10 large boxes full of screws, nuts and bolts, tools needed to start up a new base) fifteen armed men; knives, rifles against two teenage soldiers armed with only a handgun each. The odds weren't good for them, but by sheer luck of really bad stormy weather slowly approaching and territorial Pokemon nearby, the two at first thought to be doomed survived the encounter with not only their lives and the cargo, but the start of a friendship, a friendship which became a strong one through each passing week, every month, until a year passed the two were seen as inseparable.

Rose has said that meeting Ren was one of her happiest moments in her life. Before they met, became friends, became lovers, Rose was one of the eldest young soldiers within Team Annihilation at the time. Her father was a soldier at Team Annihilation, joined to earn himself money fast so he and Rose could start a life elsewhere. Seven months he lasted as a soldier, seven months earning and saving all he could, only to die in a battle he wasn't supposed to be in, a gamble he took hoping his heroic deeds to save his allies would grant him a promotion for his deeds, only to cost him his life. As for Rose, she became an orphan and was forced to stay within Team Annihilation and chose the path of a soldier just like her father.

She became scared and confused about so many things; why she was there, where her father was despite numerous times what had happened to him. For a time she still had hope that someone would help her out, like how her father did the same for her, but over time, she slowly began to realize that it was just her in this world now, a world to grow up in alone without anyone but herself. So she acted cold and distant to anyone and everyone who approached, focused only on earning money to get herself out and… out to what though? Maybe a life her father had wanted for her? 'No…' she would say 'that life is over for me. Gotta look out for myself.'

"But I worry about that." She said, refusing to look up at Ren as he asked her why. "I fear that the next time I touch you, something could go wrong and I would lose you. You are the only one left in my life that hasn't left me…"

"Rose…"

"Ren, look at those things on my dresser behind you." He looked and saw trophies, photo frames of a man Rose told him was her father, a photo of him and Rose on their first ever date. Dresses and clothes folded up on top of the other. "The reason I keep these things with me, they're things I can still keep with me without my ability affecting them. Photo's, trophies, and clothes I once wore each with a special memory behind them all." She smiled sadly at Ren, both remembering their dates they went on, clothing Ren remembered Rose wearing, dresses, shoes, jewellery she loved to wear. "But if you… if you continue to stay with me… you can't touch me, I can't touch you without my ability poisoning you, I could kill you a-and I'll be alone again. It'll be better for the both of us if we just treat each other as soldiers again."

"But I don't want that." Ren knelt down in front of her, his paw slightly above her own, moving slowly towards it. "Rose, I still love you. I want us to be together, Rose, don't worry. We'll find a way, I know we can." With his other paw behind his back, he pulled out three vials of antidote and held them close to his chest. With a smile, he finally touched Rose, something that made her flinch. "Until we can finally touch each other again without the use of these, I'll stay by your side, and maybe we can still leave this place, if you want to."

"I just want things to be back to normal, like how it used to be. Without Team Doom, or without this…" Ren said as he wiped away a tear from her eye. "I just want to see you smile again."

"I want to smile to," She sniffed, "I want it to be here and now, I just want my life back."

Rose smiled tearfully, and for the first time since the transformation, the two hugged each other for the longest possible time before the poison killed him. Rose swore ever since that day she would try to control her poison ability to work only when she needed, and not all times. She longed to be with Ren, to hold him, to touch him without fear of losing him to something she had. Then perhaps photo's, memories, clothing of a life she once had, things she loved, things that weren't alive wouldn't be the only things she could touch. Perhaps somewhere down the line, she and Ren could hold each other in their arms without an antidote at their side. Perhaps that one day if she could control it, she could hold her family without fear of poisoning anyone anymore.

* * *

****

**Team Doom Medical Ward – Number 05. Jessica**

Light in her face from an overhead lamp, her body from head to toe in burning pain as though she were drenched in acid burning her flesh. She was strapped to a bed preventing her from moving as she came to, but before she could even scream or utter a single sound, she felt a little scratch at her arm, a doctor injected her casting her asleep within seconds. Consciousness faded, but the pain followed her, she could still feel everything, both outside and within her body. Movement, stillness, no matter what she did or didn't do, she would still feel it, worse every time.

Two weeks after the transformation had been completed, two weeks she awoke face to face with her new boss, a face she had never seen before stare down at her with a wide grin before whispering into her ear. "Welcome back my dear, welcome to Team Doom; number 05 Jessica." Her vision became clearer after some time. To her surprise, Jessica saw a Latias a shiny one staring at her with a smile plastered on her face in the room with her and no one else. Last time she came to she awoke in agonizing pain, but this time the pain was somewhat numb but still present.

"W-whe…w-where am… I?" Jessica struggled to say through a dry throat.

"You are in the medical ward of Team Doom, Jessica." Jessica looked for the source of the voice, but only found the shiny Latias with her.

"W-where a-are you…?" The shiny Latias approached her more closely and whispered.

"Here I am." Shiny Latias backed away from her and levitated above her and presented herself to her. "I am Shiny Latias, leader of Team Doom and your boss, my dear. Don't you remember why you are here?" Jessica shook her head, everything was still a blur to her, memory was still foggy; who brought her here during the evacuation of Team Annihilation's downfall, why she was in a medical ward, and what or who were Team Doom, let alone this Latias talking to her.

"I don't… r-remember m-much…" she coughed. Shiny Latias levitated a small cup of water from her bedside table for her to drink. Jessica grabbed the cup and gulped it down desperate to quench her thirst. "T-thank you…"

"You welcome my dear. Drink all of your water." Shiny Latias said whilst staring at her directly into her eyes, eyes strangely glow an ominous darker shade of amber. After Jessica had done so, Shiny Latias slowly sighed and smiled. "Still works…" She said silently to herself. "Your name is Jessica, do you remember that?" She asked, Jessica nodded and set the plastic cup back down onto the bedside table. "Do you know what Team Doom is? Or perhaps a reminder is in order?"

"Um, I would like to know what Team Doom is, please." Jessica said, before her head was petted by Shiny Latias as she levitated away from the bed.

"Team Doom is the backup of Team Annihilation should it ever fall. But it did due to the interference of that boy!" She bitterly spat, scratching a wall with her sharp claws. "We are what you call the leftovers of what survived, we members of Team Annihilation have gathered together to join as the new Team Doom to help recreate the world in what Juro himself had always wanted; The promised world. A world where we wish one without fear, hatred, war, one where I can gain control of it all." Shiny Latias slowly turned to Jessica and smiled a smile which made Jessica feel uneasy. "Do you want to help us to create that world, Jessica? It sounds beautiful that world were all can live at peace. 'Dreamlike' uttered those fools who thought this was unobtainable. 'A pathetic wish of a mad man, an evil man who wants to control all.' But with Team Doom, with my plan in motion, this world will belong to me to recreate the world in his image; my father's world will become a reality. Doesn't that sound wonderful? A world all can live together in peace? Because those that don't agree with me, I'll just kill them. It's as though they are laughing at my father's dream…" Shiny Latias chuckled to herself, eying Jessica awaiting her.

Jessica wasn't sure what to say around her, she had never met this Latias before in her life. Not even ten minutes awake and she is being watched and somewhat judged with what she'll say next. _'Was this some kind of test?'_ Jessica thought. With her memory quickly returning, she remembered why she joined up in the first place- no. she didn't choose this, she was forced to be many men in lab coats strapping her down to a bed, injecting her with some kind of strange green liquid directly into her forearm being told by one of the men 'This is your fate. Team Doom must have its key components.' Jessica turned her head towards a small handheld mirror set up on her bedside table next to the plastic cup she just noticed and grabbed it. She hadn't noticed before when drinking from the cup, but when she grabbed it, she noticed her hands were… different, smaller, whiter, and fluffy, with three fingers instead of five. Holding up the mirror in front of her face, she could only stare agape at what she saw; a Mew staring back at her through the reflection, white fur and black sclera and purple eyes. She then remembered another voice calling to her before the transformation, _'This will turn you into a Pokemon. A Pokemon with extraordinary powers the original could not gain.'_

"I-it sounds good." It was all Jessica could say. At normal volume or like a whisper, she couldn't quite tell, but the message was delivered and Shiny Latias smiled.

"Good" She repeated her word with a relaxed smile. Shiny Latias levitated over to her and stroked her head, ruffling her fur. "Now you get some rest. Soon, we shall begin your training to make you a strong one indeed." She chuckled before leaving the room.

It took her some time to realize that Shiny Latias didn't see her as a soldier, someone she could call a friend, an ally, no. Shiny Latias saw each and everyone she worked alongside as nothing but tools, pawns to be used for her game, tossed aside when they had fulfilled their usefulness. 'You'll become a sacrifice if you fail me.' Were the words Shiny Latias had said many times to the human turned Pokemon who angered her, something which Jessica didn't understand what for. _'A sacrifice? What for?' _It had taken her time to find a meaning for this, what were they being sacrificed for. Cornelius didn't help her because of his endless crying and rage for how the world is so unfair to him, Nathaniel being too busy to answer her question because of his training all to get stronger so he would not be a sacrifice, Ren had mentioned to her about how the sacrifices were all human turned Pokemon members all for Shiny Latias to fulfil her goal on gaining closer on taking the world and reshaping it in her image. Confused, she asked why only human turned Pokemon members of Team Doom chosen as sacrifices to which no answer could be given from Ren, so she had to look elsewhere or talk to someone else she thought could offer some insight to what the sacrifices are for or why they had to be sacrificed.

Rose just ignored her continuing down the corridor leaving Jessica standing there with an unanswered question she had for days been searching for. So if they didn't provide her with the answers she had wanted answered, then perhaps the leader of Team Doom would answer her.

"What do you mean we have to die? I didn't sign up for this!" Jessica was shocked to hear from Shiny Latias of what all human turned Pokemon members of Team Doom had to do, they had to train themselves to fight, to make someone else, an enemy stronger so Shiny Latias could somehow use them for her gain. Upon the defeat of a human turned Pokemon member by the enemy their life energy would be absorbed by them thus killing them. A fate all members turned Pokemon had to do, no other choice on the matter. If refused, Shiny Latias would make them somehow become the first to be sacrificed, but not before putting them in their place first, something Shiny Latias has done to other members not wanting to be a sacrifice for anything.

"You would've found out sooner or later on your own. After making a stupid mistake perhaps or asking me stupid questions like this!" She scoffed, like Jessica just said one of the most stupidest questions Shiny Latias ever heard. "All of you human turned Pokemon must die in order for the plan to succeed. I train you; you become strong all for Zack to absorb in the end. So now you know that you are all destined to die, now go fly away like the insect you are only to be squashed later on." She laughed, levitating away from Jessica.

"I'm not an insect!" Jessica shot at her, levitating up preparing to strike Shiny Latias with her moves, perhaps even using her ability against her boss. An ability she had only just started to understand, an ability that traps the victim forcing them to relive a nightmare were all things they fear come to life, a nightmare so real it could kill them. What fears would Shiny Latias see if Jessica activated her ability? Team Annihilation and Juro no more? The enemy defeating her in battle? Losing everything? All to be revealed if she activated her ability. But could she do it? Her ability could only be used at close range for it to be activated. Shiny Latias was powerful, she was dangerous, if Jessica tried to use her ability, and how would she retaliate? Would she kill her before her ability could affect her? "All of us are not some tool to be used"

"What, do you intend to use your ability against me?" She said blandly as she looked down at Jessica's open paws. Levitating closer towards her, almost in range for Jessica to use her ability against her if she could. "I would like to see you try." She smiled, finally coming up to her face and stroking her head with her paw. "But are you fast enough to do so?"

Shiny Latias grabbed Jessica's paw with her own and pulled it up to her head. "Can you do it?" Jessica's eyes grew wide; she bit her lip hard, tearing up. But before she could tell her that she couldn't do it or apologize, she felt some sharp sractch along the top of her head, a single claw dug deep into Jessica's head as she felt Shiny Latias slowly scratch her with blood trickling down her head, then after she was done, Shiny Latias with her Psychic pushed her face down fast forcefully onto the floor with a loud smack that echoed the corridor.

"You insects are all the same, crawling around almost as if you are asking for a boot to crush you flat." She coldly stated, staring down at another one of her pawns. "You do not understand what it is you are fighting for. You are fighting for a free world, a better world, and yet you are all too selfish thinking of your own lives when you should be thinking of the lives we are trying to save!" Grabbing Jessica by the small tuft of fur on top of her head, she pulled her up and growled in her ear. "Just be grateful I did only this to you instead of torturing you and turning you into some mindless puppet!"

A pawn to be used and thrown away, that was the fate of all human turned Team Doom members, no choice on the matter. Jessica didn't nod, didn't utter a word, she only whimpered, fearing for her life as Shiny Latias pulled at her fur, slamming her back down to the floor and levitating off leaving Jessica alone, sobbing and bleeding.

A life perhaps she could never escape from, a life she was forced into, a life which would perhaps end in her death as a sacrifice.

* * *

****

**Team Annihilation HQ Classroom – Number 06. Martha**

A female Charizard with black scales roamed the classroom of Team Doom's HQ, a classroom for recruiters Martha had wanted to use this room for her students, children she had brought back from Team Annihilation after the downfall. She had wanted to use this classroom not to teach her children to be used as soldiers like Shiny Latias had wanted, but to teach the basics to prepare themselves for a normal life away from the fighting, but sadly the children were all killed in an explosion, an attack Shiny Latias had told them The Savior's had attacked.

Since then, Martha joined up with Team Doom officially and became one of eight human turned Pokemon. Most members of Team Doom go out on missions or work, but not Martha, she was still mourning for her children's lose. Martha was a teacher at Team Annihilation, she taught several student's including Jessica while their parents were out during missions or were simply too busy to watch over them. She watched over them all, treated them as if they were her own children, promising they would be safe with her no matter what. Ever since their deaths, Martha became a member of Team Doom originally wanting to get revenge for the ones responsible for her children's deaths, but after they found and killed the ones responsible, she felt nothing, no victory or satisfaction for what she did, it was unlike her, she wasn't violent or wished death or harm upon anyone, no matter what they have done to her. She didn't understand why she was here to begin with if she didn't agree with them.

"I see you are still in the classroom, Martha. Didn't you want to see your students graduate to become soldiers for my army?" Shiny Latias asked as she levitated inside the room, inspecting the desks.

Martha cast a glare at her and bitterly spat. "Those people you call soldiers are nothing but puppets. Ordinary citizens you kidnapped off the street just to be added in your little army, all obeying every command you give them like robots!" All new 'recruits' were brought into the classroom to be met with Martha there 'teaching' her new students the rules while becoming a solider of Team Doom, from the do's and don'ts, how to speak to Shiny Latias without angering her, and giving them their . Shiny Latias controlled them all to be silent in their protests as to why they were brought here, ordinary people from a next door neighbor, a college student, homeless people, anyone Team Doom found and were brought here to be brainwashed to become soldiers for Shiny Latias army. And then after that Martha's job was done and Shiny Latias would take them to train them with combat and weapons over in another part of the facility.

"Whatever. As long as they listen to my commands, they will serve me well." Shiny Latias smiled, flicking off some dust on one of the students desk.

"You have young children here!"

"No matter how old or how young they are, they will always obey my commands without fail. And besides, those children I have here were originally unwanted children to begin with. So why does it matter that they are here or not?"

"Most you send out to battle don't come back! You are sending innocent children out there to be killed!" She raised her voice, growing angrier with each word that had escaped her mouth.

"Martha my dear, you are helping these children to create a better world for us all." She said as she levitated towards Martha, touching her face with her paw. "A world where we need sacrifices to rebuild this world. So don't worry about it. you just keep telling them the rules and whatnot while I alongside with you control them to listen before I take them to become soldiers. And you are doing such a good job too. It'll be like you are a teacher again, teaching these young people to do my bidding."

Martha pushed Shiny Latias' paw off of her face and shouted. "I refuse to hurt anyone let alone kill anyone, Shiny Latias! Unlike you and your other soldier's, I am not a soldier, I am a teacher! And I am not a cold murderer like you!" Martha spat at Shiny Latias, unafraid of her in anyway. Most would call this foolish, suicidal. Speaking against Shiny Latias would almost always result in death. Everyone who had worked alongside her almost always kept their opinions to themselves should they wish to live.

"And if you think I'll remain a part of this sick group you have started, well think again! What you are doing is vile, and I won't allow Jessica to be part of your twisted little team anymore!" Martha didn't care what she would do to her, not anymore. She couldn't stand being here, a place similar to Team Annihilation's headquarters, both places a dark place full of death and misery, a place no child should ever live in.

"Hmm… comments like that usually enrage me. Having someone lower than me thinking they know everything." Shiny Latias looked up to her and their eyes locked. "But you know, something has been bothering me for some time now. Do you remember those children you looked after before you became what you are now? Those children you loved so much as if you were their mother, all dead in an explosion?" She smiled and started to chuckle then became laughter before she revealed. "I was surprised that my Mist Ball did so much damage made to look like an explosion."

Martha was unsure what she meant by that, but then thought 'What does… d-did she?'"No! W-why would you- You said it was-!" Martha's children, twelve of them including Jessica had successfully escaped Team Annihilation before its destruction. The children all without parents, with a home to go back to were taken in by Martha who had promised them a better life, a fresh new start. But then when it came to Shiny Latias asking Martha to become the sixth member of the Team Doom Eight, she declined wanting to stay with her children and bring them up away from all of the fighting. Then the explosion came the following night, the children excluding Jessica who had already became the fifth member earlier that morning were all killed in an explosion where the children all stayed in, an attack Shiny Latias claimed who had alerted her soldier's that The Savior's had attacked them. She led her soldiers on a false search for weeks near their hideout. Savior members were found and killed accused of attacking the children. Then Martha after seeing Jessica's new form as a Mew finally decided to become the sixth member to protect her.

"To drive you further to our side, of course." She said blandly, almost smirking as she watched Martha's shocked expression. "I told you now to remind you that you cannot leave this place without my permission. I needed someone to become one of eight human turned Pokemon for my plan to begin. I chose you because you are connected with Jessica, so I could use you in more ways than one." She chuckled.

Martha gritted her teeth and raised her claw about to strike down at Shiny Latias' still smug face, not caring if she'd die for what she was about to do. "But, if you do hurt me… what'll happen to Jessica?" Martha stopped herself just in time before her claws touched Shiny Latias' face. Jessica was the last person alive in her life that still mattered to her, her only student left, a young girl she had loved to that she saw her as her own daughter. The things Shiny Latias would do to Jessica, she could only imagine what sort of horrors she'd do to her.

"Yes, the fifth member of the Team Doom Eight. It would be a shame if something terrible were to happen to her. Oh yes, I only need her to be killed by Zack Raines, I don't care if she can walk, talk, or think for herself. She'll be a puppet after I have had my way with her. But don't you worry, she won't be alone, I'll make you watch what I do to her." Shiny Latias smiled, relaxed herself and opened up her arms. "So, what'll it be? Strike me down, hoping that you are strong enough to kill me with one strike? Or will you apologize for everything you have said to me, that everything you just said was a lie?" Martha wanted to strike her, she wanted this to end. To prevent anymore conflict Shiny Latias had to be stopped, she wanted to stop her, she wanted to see her dead for what she did… but she couldn't do it. She loved Jessica and wasn't going to risk her life.

Martha lowered her paw to be at her side and lowered her head. Reluctantly, she said "I'm sorry Shiny Latias, but I was wrong, so wrong for saying such words."

Shiny Latias smiled and levitated away from her. "Act out of line once more Martha," She lifted up her paw to show off her sharp claws. "and my claws will soak in her blood. Also, if you did strike me with your paw, you wouldn't get through my Protect I used before revealing to you what I did to those children. I don't want to risk my beautiful face from getting a single scratch. Thank yourself that you didn't, otherwise Jessica would be in a world of hurt right about now." She chuckled, leaving Martha to herself, sobbing.

Martha knelt down to floor, grief and hopelessness had overwhelmed her. She thought about all of the children she had lost, failed to protect them, a promise of a new life, a new start could never be given to them. Jessica and Martha were trapped there; she started to feel as if they would never be free from Shiny Latias. But quickly, Martha couldn't accept it; she refused to believe that she and Jessica were trapped by Shiny Latias. She would start up a plan, a plan to escape with Jessica when the time was right. "Soon J-Jessica, soon we'll leave this awful place…" she sniffed finding small hope in her words.

* * *

****

**Team Doom HQ Laboratory 04 – Number 07. Henry**

In the laboratories of Team Doom HQ late of the night was one researching the Doom serum for additional unseen affects a user might suffer, an overlooked side affect that might render one's organs failing with the body refusing its new form. A huge Pokemon stood at a chalkboard writing equations of the Doom Serum; possibilities, probable known causes the Doom serum can bring, potential affects, a Pokemon, a legendary known as a Regirock, a human turned Pokemon by the name of Henry. Unlike the usual colors of a Regirock, this one was golden with red eyes. He knew electric type moves as well as rock types to which he claimed to have mastered the use of both of them all on the same day he became a Pokemon. Many if not everyone after hearing him claim this all believed this to be nothing but lies. Usually after a human turned into a Pokemon because of the Doom serum, after transformation they would wake and their bodies would ache from the transformation leaving them fatigued for nearly three days.

As the years passed since the transformation, Henry has created many things for Team Doom; the armor a soldier wears the Team Doom emblem 'D', the drones shooting a variety of pellets both harmful and neutralizing a Pokemon's move from being used. He still creates weapons even in the final hours before the battle with the Savior's all to find his place within Team Doom.

Henry was a scientist with Team Annihilation before he joined Team Doom. He was one the top scientist at Team Annihilation, one of potential people Juro had wanted to help create the Doom serum with other chosen scientists, but decided against it and needed him at Team Annihilation's HQ instead to focus on the machine he was creating to recreate the world in his own image. If Henry had been involved with the creation of the Doom serum, he would've made so much more adjustments on what the serum could do to the host; the limit one user could obtain, control the user the same way Juro once controlled Latias a long time ago before Team Annihilation had fallen, or let the user make the choices on what power and form to take instead of randomize it all.

"Working late I see." Shiny Latias yawned as she levitated inside the room towards Henry's chalkboard and workstation. Henry didn't turn to her; he was more focused on his work. "The Doom serum again, Henry? Isn't this like the thirtieth time you have been at this?"

"Twenty-four to be precise." He corrected her, finding no way to focus on his work anymore and focus on her instead. "What can I do for you my lady?"

"Found anything about the serum?"

"Transformations are randomized, from the form one might take, to the new moves they can use the original form could not." He said to her whilst pointing at the chalkboard towards the 'eyes' section. "This section right here is something I have noticed, one which has been the same for all human turned Pokemon; the sclera, they're all black. And the pupils and irises are all the same color as each other but darker or lighter shade. I have not uncovered the reason behind this or why I am a Regirock with electric type moves, why Cornelius is a Rayquaza who cries all the damn time, why Jessica is a white Mew with powers to create a nightmarish world for the victim to live in until they finally kill themselves in."

"But since you are here my lady, might I ask you one question?"

Shiny Latias stared at him for a short while before she gestured for him to continue. "What is Team Doom's true purpose? The reason for eight humans turning into Pokemon, seven to be absorbed by the final member, what does that gain you? Zack Raines is your enemy, so why give him all of this power." He asked her, carefully watching her every movement as she levitated around the lab, glancing at each and every glass vial she passed.

"Control." She finally said before casting Henry a grin showing off her sharp teeth to him.

"And why would you do this? Wouldn't it be much simpler, much faster to just simply kill him saving you all of this trouble and resources?"

"I would rather do it this way so that my enemy can lose everything around him so slowly, his friends and family all dying while I just sit back and watch him suffer. He will kill all members of the Team Doom Eight except himself; he'll come for me…" She then smiled, chuckling to herself as she grabbed a vial with her Psychic and used it to crush it. "Then that's when I'll control him, and he'll do whatever I tell him to do without his control."

"Interesting, but might I ask, how could you ever control the Dewott if he has this power? How could you ever control him?" Shiny Latias levitated up close towards Henry's face, placed her claws on the side of his head and scratched it chipping small rocks off.

"Because I am the first Pokemon to have used the Doom Serum successfully. I have a new ability that makes others do what I want them to without fail. No matter the order I issue, whether it is to hurt or kill a loved one they will always do as I ask them. Once I have control of Zack Raines, this region will be mine, and Juro's promised world will become reality."

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

I thought about typing up 8 different chapters about all 8 members of Team Dooms origins, but i felt that this wasn't going to progress the story further and slow it down.

**AN: This is possibly the longest chapter i have done for this story so far. originally i had planned to split the chapter up into two parts, i tried to split it, but it just didn't work. Well anyway, chapter 34 is in the works and should be up by next Thursday. also, when i reach the final 5 chapters of the story i will try to upload more than 1 every week so i can finish up before the end of December, then next year sometime i'll work on the 4th story in the series.**

**thanks again for reading, and i will try to include one of the requested characters i have been sent by another reader for the last remaining chapters, just gotta try and find out where and when to do so. well guys, stay cool ya'll and until next time.**


	34. Chapter 34 Reunion

Chapter 34 – Reunion

* * *

**Opelucid City – 6 hours until the battle**

Two days had passed since the deaths of Sakura and Isaac, most of that was a little bit of mourning, a little bit of planning for the attack against Team Doom, and the rest of that trying to train for the upcoming battle, I barely had the chance to talk with the others or hang out with them, to have fun, to lift the weight off from my shoulders. The risks were high with this one, many would be killed today, people and Pokemon I cared for, my friends, they wouldn't let me go in alone, they wouldn't no matter what I told them. This would be our biggest operation since the assault on Team Annihilation, since our final battle with Infinite during the timeline crisis. I wasn't sure we'd make it out of this alive, but I just had to believe in my team's abilities if we were going to see this through.

The of our room slowly opened, Latias quickly popped her head around the door, scanning the room until she saw me sitting up on the bed after just coming out of the Dark Place for some extra training before the planning soon, talk about timing. "Um, hey Zack. Hows about we get out of here and, I don't know… get some fresh air? Cause you have been cooped up in here ever since yesterday; training inside that Dark Place of yours, eating little food and barely talking to us." She levitated up and held out her paw for me to take it. "So what do you say we go out and get ourselves some good delicious waffles? My treat! And I promise you- no! I guarantee you'll be happy, it'll make you smile; besides I have something to show you." She was right, I did need to get out, have some food in me before we head out. I wasn't sure what it was she wanted to show me, something that would make me smile, make me happy. So I agreed and went with her. But instead of walking out of there being carried out like normal; Latias grabbed me with her paw and told me to shut my eyes as we left the center.

"C'mon, it's this way!" Latias laughed as she pulled me somewhere through the city with my eyes closed 'a surprise' was all I knew about what Latias was doing. She said it would make me smile, although I hadn't been on the best of moods lately since the death of both Sakura and Isaac, and with the upcoming battle and the tension rising with each passing hour, I wasn't sure what it was Latias would say it would make me happy. I thought it was something to do with what was happening at the diner or that they had brought back a Super Latias menu at half price or something which would make her happy, but the distance from the center to wherever it was Latias was taking me was much longer than where the diner was. A five minute walk away from center and we would be there already, now it was fifteen minutes, I wasn't sure where it was she was leading me I couldn't hear anything to give me a clue; not a car horn close by or in the distance, music playing from the stores and entertainment buildings I have heard many times whilst passing through these streets, crowds of people or voices nearby, only the wind and the occasional giggling from Latias as she pulled me along.

"Okay, now you stand here and wait until I say to open your eyes." She said after coming to a sudden stop and letting go of my paw. After a short of silence and eagerly waiting, I heard footsteps approach me, a lot of them. "Okay, now!" Were all she said before I was tackled to the ground, cheers and many calling my name, voices I thought I recognized. Finally opening my eyes, they widened at what I saw; Bayleef, Totodile, Gardevoir, Golurk, my Pokemon. But behind me was another Pokemon which took me quite some time for me to realize who it was, a Pokemon I hadn't seen in years; Lugia.

Back when I was fourteen during my first month or so as a member of the Savior's, I was once given a Pokemon, and to all of our surprise that egg hatched and inside turned out to be a Lugia. After the downfall of Team Doom, Lugia left the team so it could find others like it, a legendary being with a long lifespan ahead of it; it wanted to know why it was here and for what purpose. Lugia was good friend of mine, I was happy to see it again… guess she was right after all, I was happy to see not just Lugia, but all of my Pokemon apart from Dewott.

"Lugia?" I smiled, surprised to see it again. It has been so long since I last saw Lugia, four years almost. Lugia chirped happily as it hugged me and everyone else with both of its large wings. It was a crushing hug, but a good one nonetheless.

* * *

Sitting down on the grass at the city park to catch up with my friends, I listened in to my Pokemon's talk about what they have been up to; while I was gone, anything happened since we left and if anything has changed in the town. Nothing much had happened, although my sister Yuri is still going to go to the art academy with her friends. My dad however did find a new job here in the town; he works at the bakery were mom used to work at before she died. He doesn't bake; he only helps out with the cleaning and storing boxes in the storeroom. He and Yuri back home, they're getting along well, I was worried about them getting along before I had left town thinking dad would pull the same thing again; order many boxes of pizza, awkward silence, and then leave the next morning. But they're talking to each other, supporting one another.

We sat together in a circle; I was in between Espeon on my left and Latias on my right. Next to Latias was Lugia, then Golurk, sitting next to Golurk was Totodile and Bayleef, and finally Gardevoir with a dictionary kept close to her chest as she joined in on the conversation. "So how come Dewott didn't come with you guys?" I asked, expecting him to show up soon as another surprise. Dewott had been with us for a long time now; he was my pal, so why didn't he come with the others? Before we left home, Dewott's mate Meowstic was expecting an egg; I guess he wanted to stay with her and help raise their new child. No, that wasn't the case, it was something else.

"He said he didn't want to come." Gardevoir said, fighting the urge to open up her dictionary to read more pages, obsessed with it. With a deep breath she placed the book aside and continued. "He said 'I don't see the point on going.' We tried many times to convince him to come with us to help you out, b-but… he said what we were doing is suicidal, that it was pathetic, and he didn't want to be a part of it, especially that his daughter was just hatched from the egg."

"Coward." Espeon shook her head. "After the many times we have fought together, stood by one another, facing many antagonists over the years, after the many chapters of each story we have shared together, Dewott just _decides _to stay at home while leaving us to fight Team Doom?" She scoffed. "Does that idiot remember why we are out here in the first place? The fat golden bitch killed Zackary's mom, if Meowstic also died because of her, I bet he'd be out here. But no! The coward wants to be with his family, letting us do all of the fighting. I have a feeling that somewhere in the future, someone is about to punched in the balls…"

"Espeon, his daughter just hatched out of her egg. Dewott just wants to be with his family," Latias defended. "Although I believe he was very rude saying that we were pathetic on doing this after all that has happened. All of us had a choice to be here, we weren't forced to come, but we did. If Dewott wants to be with his family rather than fight with us, well that's his choice."

"Yeah, I get that. But calling us pathetic, it's like rubbing salt in the wound, I expected better from him..." Hearing this, what Dewott said about our journey to fight Shiny Latias and Team Doom being pathetic and he would have no part in this, this was unlike him. In the past he would always help out, to fight with us and never turning his back on us for anything. I thought Dewott would help out at the beginning or at least promise to come and help when we needed it. But like with what Latias said, he has a family to look after.

"Mr Zack, Lee from the Savior's told me to tell you that the planning stage will take place inside the main tent at noon." Golurk said, pointing with its large finger towards the tent at the edge of the park were other Savior soldier's were preparing to go into battle. Twenty minutes left until then.

I nodded and returned to face the others. With the battle just around the corner I had to ask knowing the reason why. "So why are you guys here? If you didn't know, Team Doom is within route 10; we are going to go into battle with them soon"

"We're here to help." Gardevoir answered that and glanced briefly at Espeon. "Espeon called us; she told us what had happened with Sakura and Isaac, how they were killed by Team Doom, how close you where to their base, we wanted to help, so here we are."

"Lugia here showed up a day before the call was made." Bayleef spoke up as she pointed to Lugia with her leaf. "We told Lugia everything that has happened since, the transformation, Team Doom, all of it. And after hearing this, Lugia has wanted to come and see you."

"Of course I did." Lugia nodded. "After being away for so long, I guess you could say that I got kind of homesick, that I missed you guys. I was willing to wait at the lab with the others until you got back home, but after the call was made from Espeon that they needed some help take down this Team Doom I volunteered to help out. So here I am."

"It's good that you're here Lugia, but are you sure you want to fight? What about your clan?"

"Of course I want to fight; I can't abandon my friends when they need help. Over the years, I have trained to become strong with all the moves I know. I'm ready to help out." Lugia said with determination and confidence in its voice. "As for my clan, they'll be fine they're strong."

"What about the rest of you?" I asked, turning towards the others, wanting to know how they really felt about this. Were they truly sure they wanted to be here? Did they have any second thoughts? I didn't want them to force them into the fight that was about to start. "Totodile, Bayleef," I said turning to them first. "What about your children? Don't you want to see them again?"

"We do want to see them again. But you are our friend Zack, if not for you, I would've still been with that abusive trainer or I would probably be dead by now." Bayleef spoke first, the two holding each other close to one another. "I would never have met Totodile."

"When I was kicked out of my clan near the beach of Accumula Town, Zack, it was you who had asked me if I wanted to go with you." Totodile said with a heartfelt smile. "You have been such a great friend to me and Bayleef ever since we all met. We know the dangers we are getting ourselves into facing while Team Doom, but Shiny Latias needs to be stopped. I mean, what kind of friends would we be if we just let you do this by yourself?"

"Mr Zack, I will stand by your side to face our foes together, no matter the odds. Together we are strong. Together we can triumph." Golurk said, whilst giving me a thumbs up. "Team Doom must not prevail, Shiny Latias will be stopped. We can do this, Mr Zack."

"With friends like us at your side Zackary, we can survive this." Espeon perked her ears up, happy as she said that, with a wide grin plastered on her face. "Golurk's right, we are strong together. You already know our strengths and weaknesses, instead of having a new team at your side not knowing what they're good at; you have us there with you. You have been our leader since the start, and we are here for you Zackary 'Till the End of Time'... heh, references." She chuckled at the last part, not knowing what it meant, but I was happy on hearing this from her.

"I am here to assist in this battle, Zack; I am definitely not going to let a group of ruffians bother us anymore." Gardevoir smiled, nervously glancing at her dictionary set beside her on the grass, inching closer with her paws to grab hold of it and read from it, to find words to inspire her… or just reread a page. "The villainous shall not triumph over us!" She declared, before swiftly grabbing the dictionary and reading from the first page. A lover of dictionaries, her 'daily dosage' as it was.

"Latias, what about you? Are you still going to do this?" I asked. "Are you still going to face your sister, Shiny Latias?"Latias slowly nodded, and opened her mouth to speak.

"I will. It may be foolish on think this, it may very well be suicidal, but I believe I can get through to her; I can convince her to stop this, this fighting she has started. I can't forgive her for what she has done, but I don't want to fight anyone, I want the fighting to stop." Latias rubbed her stomach, something which had caused Espeon to cast Latias a worried look… "Zack, You can't do this by yourself; you're going to need all of us to help you. We're here for you."

She held her paw on top of mine; Espeon moved in and placed her paw on top of Latias'. Totodile and Bayleef moved in also and did the same by placing their paws on top of Espeon's. Golurk didn't need to move much since it was large anyway, the same with Lugia.

"This will be dangerous."

"Yep! But you know, we'll face that danger together." Espeon replied, and I was starting to feel that we were all going to make out of it together, no matter the odds. I didn't know what would happen, what dangers we would face, how many we would lose, if we would come out of this alive or not. But after hearing my friends say all of that, I was starting to believe that we would make it out of this alive, that we would all see tomorrow.

* * *

**The Savior's Main Tent**

At the afternoon in the city of Opelucid were The Savior's planning inside the main tent to plan out the operation, the last leaders alive after Team Doom had hunted down and killed them. Inside the tent with me were Lee, a man who was an expert when it came to Pokemon for members of the Savior's to help each one with what kind of moves a pokemon can learn, how they use that move and what to look out for in terms of territorial behaviour. A man who had helped me during past missions so many times, a man I was happy to call friend. Clark Stone's niece; Reiko, she worked as a navigator to assist members of the Savior's on missions on finding certain locations. She and I not long before I was transformed into a Dewott, we had some awkward silence moments here and there, well I guess it had something to do with me and her… well mostly me, I mean what I am trying to say is that I liked her, but I wasn't sure how to approach her, then things got awkward between us and I was afraid of approaching her… hmm, I don't know, things just got weird between us.

Then as the months of the ongoing awkward silence and whatnot continued on, Reiko started seeing someone, and that made things difficult for me to say something to make thing better so we could still be friends. With the upcoming battle in a matter of hours, the planning had begun, but I couldn't talk about that with her now, it would have to be later.

The third man, an elderly man inside the tent with us was a professor named Guard, not sure what his first name is, never asked. No one within The Savior's asked him this; I don't think it ever came up. Professor Guard was in charge of the R&D (Retail and development) department of the team, creating new technology and devices for us to use on the field for missions. Oh wait a minute; I think his name was Julius. Why did I think that no one knew his first name?

The fourth was a man, a doctor named Billy. He was part of the medical team and surprisingly one of the few last remaining leaders to be out on the field to assist the soldiers in battle. They called him 'Lightning Medic' for how fast he healed up most people and Pokemon's injuries whenever he treated anyone. We don't talk that often, but I can tell that he is a good man, and I am more than happy to know that I have an excellent medic at our side.

And finally there was the counselor Clair, a young woman same age as Billy who helps members of the Savior's whenever they our out during missions or after for a session to help them through stressful missions or situations. We have spoke quite often during my time as a member of the Savior's, not through sessions but on a day to day friendly talk about this and that. Before I left the Savior's after the transformation, I learnt from her that she and Billy were engaged to be married next year. Not only that, but they planned on leaving the Savior's by the end of the year in three months time.

The inside of the tent was dim, the only source of light was a lamp hung up on a string above a table we all gathered around. The table had a map of Route 10, red markings, circles and lines, numbers marked 1 – 8 in various sections.

"This here is a map of Route 10 as you can clearly see all marked with numbers." Lee pointed at certain parts of the map pointing to each numbered area of the map. The numbers were all near the mountain at the northwest section of the map, very close to where the base of Team Doom is. "These are the set locations I have set up for our soldiers to move in and wait for further instructions to move in on the base."

"All teams will move in one at a time to reduce attraction from the enemy, with both teams having eleven soldiers within their team all meeting up at their set designated location." He continued, using his index finger to point at the entrance to route 10 moving it to one of the 8 areas of the map.

"_Eleven members at a team, huh?"_ I thought at this. _"There's me, Latias, Espeon, Golurk, Totodile, Bayleef, Gardevoir, and Lugia… seven of us. I'm going to need three more for my team to be full."_

"The team moving in will consist of eight teams with eleven soldiers moving in on the locations. This will be known as 'First Strike Team' the first waves of soldier's, the best of the best to move in on the base before 'Second Strike Team' enters. Then after 'Second Strike Team' have done their part, the final team 'Third Strike Team' will be serving as the cleanup team, to go over each area to find any wandering soldier or those still alive to take back to base."

Lee gestured his hand to point at Clair. "Clair here will support all members of The Savior's as much as she can from the main base here. If you are feeling stressed or worried about something, talk to her and she'll do everything in her power to help."

"That's right. I'll be there for you all." She said, and nodded her head to let Lee finish off the plan.

He gestured to Billy next. "And of course Billy will be part of the 'First Strike Team', but he will not engage inside the base and will instead wait outside the base to take care of the soldier's outside first."

"I'll do all I can." He said. "And 'Second Strike Team' will bring me more medical supplies?" Lee nodded, and looked at me next.

"Zack here will be part of the 'First Strike Team' to move in on the base. The first wave could be rough, but with your Psychic abilities and powers you could easily turn the tide in favor for us."

I thought about my team, about my Pokemon. This could be the perfect opportunity to tell Lee to make sure my Pokemon didn't enter the battle with me, to keep them behind while I alone went inside and faced Team Doom. TO make sure they were safe, Latias would be safe. "My Pokemon, I want them to come with me for the 'First Strike Team' but we are four short of a full team." But for some reason, I didn't. The words to tell Lee not to bring my Pokemon along were at the top of my tongue, and yet I mentioned my Pokemon being on my team for the 'First Strike Team' with me. Why didn't I say it?

"Ah, not a problem. I already have four soldiers in mind I think you'll remember well. I know every team needs at least eleven members, but these four should be a great help to you. From Mistralton City if I recall." I knew who he was referring to; Sakoto, Elijah, Doug, and Herman. They said they might see me again for a future mission, but not this soon. But I was happy to be working with them again.

"Me and Reiko here will be staying here. She'll be assisting all of you on the location of route 10 and the surrounding area, areas that'll be beneficial for your survival; tall grass to hide in, a cave to catch a breath, or a large boulder to take cover." Reiko, I could sense she was looking at me, but I didn't look at her, I'm not sure why I didn't, it just got awkward again, something I didn't want to happen again. We still had hours before the attack began, and the remainder of that was preparation. Maybe soon I could try and talk to her, to get rid of this stupid awkwardness and be my old calm and happy self around her instead of the silent guy. "As for me, I'll be assist you on the Pokemon you'll be facing Zack. Those human turned Pokemon Team Doom members may have some moves that don't belong to their species, and you may need knowledge about a certain move or two. It may even get you out of a bind here or there."

"And I will be here at the base preparing the equipment for all strike teams. I may very well throw in one of my new gadgets for you all to use." Professor Guard spoke up as he revealed a small metal cylinder from his lab coat pocket. "This here is a 'Life Detection Grenade' by pulling the pin and throwing it within a certain area, it'll reveal to all the location of all living beings within the proximity, but the downside is that'll reveal the users location as well. Should I put that in?" He asked. Lee also his arms and thought about this. He nodded.

"Okay, so we have our plan. So in the meantime before we head out, I want each of you to prepare yourselves. Equipment check, status check, inventory check. I want your teams prepared before we head out. Got it?" He asked, all of us apart from the professor said 'Got it!' all in unison. "Okay then, then let's get too it."

One by one starting from Lee then the professor had left the tent. Then Billy with Clair following drawing the tent open. But Reiko stopped. She turned to me. "Um, Zack?" I stopped, and looked up at her.

"We need to talk. Do you want to talk now or should we leave it for later?" In my mind I was saying 'not now, we have an important mission ahead of us.' I didn't want things like this interfering with me before the mission. But she was right, we had to talk. For months I have been putting it off from talking to her, all because I didn't know how. But instead of me saying that, to ask for another time and move on to focus on the mission, I agreed and said whilst looking directly into her eyes.

"Okay, let's talk."

To be continued...

* * *

**Trivia:**

This chapter was originally and only focused on the planning stage of the final battle instead of adding the reunion section. I had planned for the reunion to be added in the next chapter instead of this one.

**AN: Hey guys, I know this chapter is short, but don't worry cause the next chapter will be much bigger than this one. Thanks for reading. Take it easy guys.**


	35. Chapter 35 The Final Battle Begins

**AN: A reader asked a month ago for their OC (going by the name of Captain Wujek)to be included into the story. The reader has asked not to named publicly. Had to find some way to include this character in this story somehow, so here ya go. Please enjoy. OC requests have been closed, but i already have 2 which will have to be included in the sequel i have planned. take it easy guys.**

Chapter 35 – The Final Battle Begins

* * *

**Opelucid City – The Savior's Main Tent – Five Hours Remaining**

Inside the main tent of the Savior's base of operations were me and Reiko standing in front of the other just after the planning stage of the battle with Team Doom had finished up. The preparation stage was here, but before I could start to prepare with others before the assault began, I had to deal with something else that had been at the back of my mind since before I became a Dewott.

"Okay, let's talk." I said, not sure if I should be the one to start first or let her start. Yeah, things have been pretty awkward between us, I wanted to be happy for her, that she has someone and that she's happy, but I couldn't, I was angry, sad, I guess a little jealous that someone else asked her first. I had to act like a child after, some friend I was.

"I know things between us; they have been a little awkward between us…"

"_I wouldn't call it a little…"_ I thought, watching her as she sat down on a chair at the side of the tent. It was the only one here so I decided to stay standing up, not wanting to sit on the dirt floor. So I just settled by leaning on the table leg and listened to what she had to say.

"…but before the battle begins, I have to ask you something first, to get things off my chest. I don't know what'll happen during the battle, if any of us will survive this but I want to know why Zack, why did this happen? Why have you been ignoring me for so long?"

"_Hmm… maybe I should've started first, give me more time to think about what exactly what I want to say without messing things up even more."_ I paused, wondering that myself. Why did I ignore her when I could've just spoken to her? We are friends, so why was this hard? Maybe I was afraid, afraid of what she'd say, or how'd she react to what I would say. _"Ugh, why is this so hard? It feels like time itself has stopped for me, and the only way for time to resume is for me to tell her… *sighs* just tell her, Zack. Tell her how you felt, I hope she understands…"_

"Um, b-before I was… turned into this Dewott…" I gestured to myself with my paws as I spoke with a crackling voice, growing more nervous with each word that had escaped my mouth. "I liked you, a-and I was thinking about h-how I uh… oh man! *Ahem* how I could talk to you. B-but then you found someone, and I… I guess I was upset about it, surprised and I acted so cold to you, I was silent, I acted like complete jerk when you didn't anything wrong. I acted immature and should've been happy that you found happiness. I was angry at myself, and I felt lost and I didn't know how to talk to you." "I'm sorry Reiko; I shouldn't have done that to you. I hope we can still be friends, but I can understand if you don't… I acted so foolish…"

Reiko paused momentarily, going over what I had just said. It took time for her expression to change to one I didn't quite recognize, one I never saw from Reiko before, perhaps with anger after for me acting like a child, or laugh it off and tell others about this. Hmm, then this feeling of time slowing down for me will continue to drag on longer. Reiko smiled and nodded before opening her mouth. "I thought so, you did act like that around me before the change; you were shy around me, always hanging out at the Training VR room with me when we first met actually, taking me out for coffee breaks or some activity in the city together. At the time I… w-well I liked you too." With my mouth now agape, I was shocked to hear this from her, Reiko chuckled and continued. "I also wanted to tell you, but over time I… well I guess those feelings I felt for you, they just faded away. When I met my boyfriend, I thought things between us wouldn't change, but then you started to… you know. I thought you hated me, and I didn't know why. You know, I was also sad, angry, it took me so long to say anything…"

Reiko suddenly stood up and walked towards me and knelt down. Before I could even react, Reiko pulled me in for a hug. "…together we acted immature, huh? But I still want to be your Zack, and I hope nothing has changed between us."

"N-no, no Reiko, it hasn't." I smiled, hugging her back. "But you know, if something like this ever happens again, let's not wait too long. You know, I didn't say this before, but you and Latias sure do make a pretty cute couple. I'm happy for you both."

"Thanks! You know; I'm happy for you too." I said after the hug with a huge grin on my face. "Hey you know, I don't think you ever did introduce me to your boyfriend. How about we go on a couple's date? You and your boyfriend, and me with Latias, what do you say? After all of this is over with I mean?"

"Sure. I know a really good place to get some really delicious pizza if you'd like." She said happily as we both left the ten together so we could prepare ourselves for the battle to come within the last remaining hours we still had.

I was happy to have that little talk with Reiko. Before or after the battle, I was glad this whole awkward silent treatment was over and done with before it got worse.

* * *

**Route 10 – The Battle Begins**

Eight teams of eleven soldiers to move in on a numbered zone selected to them near the location of Team Doom. This was it, our final battle with Team Doom had begun, now the few concerns that I had in mind was; will this go in our favor? Would my friends be alright? Will I live? On my team were 12 of us including me because I didn't want to be separated from my Pokemon and the other was because I knew them already, four other soldiers from Mistralton city. My team were as followed; Latias, Espeon, Totodile, Bayleef, Golurk, Lugia, Gardevoir, Sakoto, Herman, Elijah, and finally Doug, all following under my command as their boss. At least it was better this time around instead of last time having me being all nervous commanding these soldiers fearing I would lead them to their deaths. I wasn't sure if I would be the right one to lead them, but in the end we pulled through and not only did we survive but I learnt that I could trust the skill my soldiers had. I was still worried that I would lead my soldiers into death by giving rash and poor commands, but with my friends at my side, my confidence was high, they would help me should things get too bad.

Lugia for being a very large Pokemon couldn't manoeuvre through the route as normal, so it flew up high above the clouds awaiting our first move to attack while the rest of us continued on foot. I was concerned with Golurk for it being large, but surprisingly it proved to be very good at stealth by blending into the many boulders we passed along the route. The route was eerily quiet that day and empty, almost void of life. The last time I were there I could hear the calls of many Pokemon within the area of various types, Opelucid city behind us with its music and crowds of people echoing in the distance, but now this route was empty, except for us and Team Doom.

We had to stay off the main road to avoid detection, we moved through the trees and bushes single filed ten paces one behind the other with me up front leading our team to our destination and wait for further instructions before the attack began. We had to get through this route as silent as we possibly could, because one wrong move could jeopardize the mission for us all. Our window to take down Shiny Latias and Team Doom would be gone and who knows how long it'll take for another shot at this. We had to be quick to get to our set location near Team Doom's HQ so the other teams could move in, slowing down wasn't an option, we would be exposed out here not knowing if an unseen enemy were watching us. Before the mission began, a handful of soldiers scanned the area for any traps or cameras within the route but found nothing but an empty route, but being it empty didn't mean we could let our guards down for a moment.

Silence, nothing but silence whilst traversing through this route to our set destination to begin our mission, no life, nothing but our own feet crunching against the grass, the branches, the fallen leaves. I was thinking before since we were so close to Team Doom's HQ, why weren't there any cameras or anything like an alarm? Was it carelessness? That Team Doom believed no one would enter this route and they had no need for extra security? Our soldiers scanned this route for hours before the mission began, inch by inch, tree, under each rock and scanned each Cliff side and came up with nothing, no wires, old electronics, and old trash lying around here and there.

It didn't take us long but we finally made it to our set location. Our location was one of eight locations we were placed at while the other teams were set up there. It was a small cave just twenty meters away from Team Doom's HQ, from here we could see it perfectly. A tall black metallic structure with wired barbed fences surrounding the base, surrounded by tall mountains that almost shadowed over the structure making the area look darker than it already was. Through the fence, we saw many armed trucks, the same trucks Nathaniel had used to take the cargo out of the Mistralton City warehouse not long ago. Through the fence from where we were, I could see large red doors, the entrance to the building. We just had to get in there and searching for Shiny Latias would be our next step.

"This is Zack Raines," I spoke over the radio I was given to contact the others. "Our team has made it to the set location. Awaiting your instructions."

"Good, you got there faster than we thought you would." Lee's voice was heard through the radio. "Do not engage until we give the order. Standby."

We got into the cave, larger Pokemon at the far end, smaller Pokemon up front with Sakoto, Herman, Doug, Eli readying their weapons and Espeon preparing a Protect should an unexpected attack happen where up front, while me and Latias where in the center of the cave waiting nervously for the go ahead for the attack to happen.

None of us talked that much, just the occasional small talk of hope and asking if the other were alright due to some of my Pokemon shaking uncontrollably and breathing heavily; Gardevoir, Latias, and surprisingly Espeon who always ran head first into battle whenever we faced enemies together, so I spoke to her first before talking to the others while we waited.

"Espeon, you okay?" I knelt down beside Espeon as she held up a Protect around the entrance of the cave. Espeon continued to look outside the cave while she spoke quietly, not wanting to alert anyone outside of our presence.

"Concentrated. I can sense many people within the structure, too many to count, but outside the cave I can definitely sense a small amount outside. Be it our allies waiting like us to strike, or our enemies patrolling the area." Espeon turned her head briefly at me and gestured for me to look out the cave with her. "There aren't any Pokemon out there, not that I can sense that is. What about you, can you sense anything out there?"

I focused my Psychic energy out of the cave as strong as I could, but I could only pick up the people inside the structure. I hadn't had much training in that area, but I was still able to pick up on something. But then I caught up on something nearby approaching us, a large group I could sense moving behind us, away from us at a slow pace. They were heading in the same direction where the seventh team would wait at their set destination. I told her this immediately.

"Hm… I sense them too… I count eleven. That must be the seventh team moving in." Espeon sighed. "I'm a little bit scared about all of this, Zack. I thought I would be ready, prepared to go into a battle. I always get like this whenever we have thought the big bad of each story. First it was Infinite; that time guy who wanted to consume all life to live forever whilst keeping them in a dream world, then it was fighting a crime boss in a story unreleased to the public, and now, fighting against Team Doom in what may become our last ever battle."

"Don't worry, just stay close to us and we'll be alright." I placed my paw on her back. Espeon smiled and nodded, and continued to watch outside the cave.

Next I crouched over to Gardevoir who had snuck one of her dictionaries with her despite all of us telling her she couldn't, that she needed to focus on the battle to come instead of rereading from her book.

"There are far too many words for me to read to all of you about what I am feeling at the moment…" She said as she flipped through her dictionary. "Fear, anxiety, nervousness, ominous… ooh how I love that word; Ominous. But on a serious note, I am dreading what may happen to us out there. I would hate it to see you or the others seriously injured or worse. I Fear that I may stutter or panic by using the wrong move out there. But…" She held up the dictionary up and showed me the front. It was unlike the other dictionaries from her 'collection' new look, no scratches on any of them or torn page, this dictionary was beaten up badly, pages torn at the edges and dents and scratches on the cover and back. "I use this dictionary because it brings me luck. I know I was told I couldn't bring any dictionary with me and I had to focus solely on the mission, but I felt as though I had to bring this. Unlike the others, I don't bring them along with me if it involves fighting, I only bring this one because, because I want all of us to come back alive and well. I have done so all the time in the past whenever we have fought our enemies. If you don't mind, c-can I bring this along with me? I promise I won't slow anyone down because of me. I'll just keep it clipped on around my belt. See?" Gardevoir held up a small chain around her waist. The dictionary was clipped hanging down at the side of her left leg. I had seen her with that dictionary before, but not this close to see its badly beaten up condition attached to her belt.

I smiled and nodded. "Of course you can keep it, just remember to focus and to do your best. We'll make it out of here Gardevoir, together!" Gardevoir smiled and clipped her dictionary to her belt, looking a little more relaxed this time.

"This is it, huh?" Latias whispered as I approached her. "The moment we have anticipating. Inside that building is Shiny Latias, somewhere. Now that I am here, just moments away from our confrontation, I don't know if I can convince my sister to end the fighting without either one of us suffering so many injuries." She held up her paws in front of her face. "I guess I'll have to knock some sense into her first, *sighs* I just wish I had more time to think about what my plan is for this."

"Maybe you'll figure it out when you do see your sister." I whispered next to her as I sat on the dry dirt of the cave floor. "But are you sure you want to do this? What if she won't listen? That she'll refuse to and will only fight to the death?"

Latias sadly frowned, again stroking her stomach like she had started a habit on doing so of late. Plus, she was getting… um, a little bit larger, something I have only thought to myself and not share with anyone not wanting what I said to be taken as an insult. If I had known Latias was pregnant I would done all I could to prevent her from going into battle. If I had known, so much would've changed for everyone.

"If it does come to that… I may have to." I wrapped my arm around her long neck and pulled her head to my chest, just a small moment between us before the battle had begun.

After some quiet time in the cave, anxiously waiting for the call on the radio, Lee's voice was heard calling for us, "'First Strike Team' engage in battle! Get the gate gates open and move in!" it was a broadcast that was alerted to all teams of the 'First Strike Team' within the area near Team Doom's HQ, and only a short moment after the sounds of gunfire were heard outside of the cave. Sakoto up front with Herman, Doug, and Elijah armed with their weapons began their attack with my Pokemon closely following behind as Espeon and Gardevoir held up a Protect up to shield them from incoming attacks. Latias and I followed them out last, and we moved towards the gate.

* * *

The attack began, we ran towards the gate of Team Doom's HQ. Their soldiers were already alert to our presence and moved in to defend their base and shot at any enemy they saw. Luckily for us they didn't notice us at our approach at first running towards the gate, but as soon as we were just about 20 more steps away from the gate, one of the soldiers began firing at us with his rifle, and then followed by other soldiers all firing at us. With Espeon and Gardevoir's Protect up shielding us from the attacks, we didn't have to worry about them while we ran up to the gate while the other soldiers at the sides of us continued to provide cover support until we got the gate open.

Near the gate, Sakoto, Herman, Doug, and Elijah took cover behind a large enough rock to tale cover also providing us with support fire. Now it was just me and my Pokemon shielded by my Pokemon's Protect while the rest of us had to open the gate as fast as we could using our moves. With my scalchop, I used Razor Shell against the gate, slashing the locks to open it up, but that proved difficult, this lock was tough, so with the help of the others; Totodile jumped up at it and used Slash against the locks, chipping away at it with his claws. Bayleef in turn used Magical Leaf shooting many leaves at the lock, a direct hit that exploded at every impact. Golurk used Hammer Arm striking as hard as it could against the locks. Despite their lack of security outside the base, they sure did have seemingly indestructible locks to prevent anyone of Pokemon from breaking in.

***Click*** Finally after many moves used from both Totodile, Bayleef, Golurk and me, we had finally broke off the locks of the gate and pushed them open, we were in.

"Enemy has breached the gates!" One soldier shouted at the top of his lungs, alerting most of the other soldiers still shooting at our own shooting at them. "Don't let any of them inside! We must stand our ground!" We were inside, Totodile, Bayleef and Gardevoir stayed behind one of the armored trucks while the rest of us dealt with the soldiers here. Twenty meters, that was about how far we were till the front entrance of the base, and somewhere through those doors we would find Shiny Latias.

"Fire!" Sakoto said with a raised voice as she and the others still behind the gate behind the large rock and fired at the enemy soldiers taking out many a good few. I ran up to two Doom soldiers, jumped up and used Razor Shell, slashing at them across the chests before using Psychic at a rock on the ground and bringing it up in front of me protecting myself from the gunfire.

Espeon ran up to one soldier crouched down near some overturned barrels armed with what appeared to be a shotgun, jumped up and attacked him by accessing his mind and destroying it, rendering him unable to fight as he fell to the ground unconscious.

Golurk faced against several soldiers by itself using moves such as Phantom Force and Fly against them knocking them right into the building wall knocking them out. Golurk was unaffected by the gunfire from the soldiers, it seemed like the gunfire were tickling Golurk for how it started to chuckle a little.

Then from above, a loud engine could be heard amongst the clouds. Looking up I saw a large bulky humanoid figure drop down from the ground, crashing down at the ground right in front of the entrance to the building. It stood at fifteen feet, white and red striped body with body armor like parts on both legs and arms. It had no weapons from what could see, but I had expected it to have at least rockets hidden within or a laser cannon in its arm or shoulders. Suddenly the large silver domed head of the mecha, its cockpit hissed open revealing the pilot as he stood up off his heat.

It was man in heavy body armor from head to toe donning a white cape. His helmet had ten inch large metal spikes sticking out at the top of his head, kind of like a Mohawk. The visor had small black filled glaring eyes with a crudely drawn on eyebrows and grin like it was drawn on with crayons.

"Hah! We knew you imbeciles would attack us sooner or later. We've been monitoring you all since you arrived at Opelucid, since your leader was killed by one of us!" The man with a gruff voice spoke loud enough for us to hear above the gunfire from the other soldiers, but none of the soldiers on this side attacked us and only instead focused on the our soldiers outside. "Boys! Take care of them Savior soldiers. These Pokemon are mine. I feel they'll provide me with the challenge I am looking for."

"Yes captain! Good luck!" another soldier shouted as he along with the other soldiers moved in to focus on the Savior soldiers outside the gate instead of us. Totodile, Bayleef, and Gardevoir quickly joined up with me, Espeon, Latias and Golurk to fight this guy.

"I've been watching you, Dewott boy, reading about your troubled past, like how you and your family were killed by Juro when you were young, but were successfully revived by Juro when we wanted to use you and your family as additions to his undead army, but you came back and so he sent you away so you could be adopted elsewhere… never did expect you to be the guy to take down Team Annihilation…" He sighed, hanging his head down low, his chin touching his chest. "Gotta say I was quite impressed with all of that, how you surprisingly survived all of that; deep scratches from your own mind controlled Latias, blood lose, staying conscious enough to destroy the machine and pushing an old man off a balcony, feeding him to undead corpses…"

"You have me at a disadvantage. Who are you?!"

"I am the front line defense of Team Doom, I have survived much combat that I once thought I would not survive in, you my boy are in the presence of the one, the only; Captain William Utensil Jefferson Eli Kissinger, or a shortened version everyone calls me by; Wujek!" He bowed, and then stood up straight, crossing his arms across his chest. _'Wujek?'_ I thought questionably at his name.

"Utensil?" Espeon scoffed. "What kind of parent names their child after a kitchen item?"

Captain uh… Wujek growled at this, clenching both of his fists tight in anger. "Only the best kinds of parents, that's who! Parents who treated me with the utmost respect I deserved. Bah! Let's not dillydally here any longer. Not only do I have to defend this base from the likes of you, but I also I want to see what you and your allies have learnt thus far." Captain Wujek sat back in his seat as the dome closed over him. The mecha raised its fists up as if ready for a boxing match. Then Captain Wujek's voice could be heard through a speaker and said. "Are you more than capable on defeating me and Team Doom with your skills? Or are you doomed to fail while watching your allies fall to be turned to dust? Was this whole thing you have been doing, was it all just luck? Then prove to me you are strong to defeat me; Captain Wujek, with three exclamation points at the end of his sentence!"

All of us separated around the courtyard as Captain Wujek started moving towards me trying to punch down at me with its massive fists. He would have got me if it weren't for my Pokemon pushing it back with their moves. Latias flew up as fast as she could at the cockpit of the mecha slashing at it with her claws by using a Dagon Claw. Captain Wujek shrieked after the attack made contact and retaliated by swinging his arms in the air, hitting Latias on the wing sending her crashing down into the ground. Golurk moved in by using Phantom Force, first disappearing for a short moment before reappearing directly in front of Captain Wujek and attacking him. "Curses!" He yelled as he punched Golurk right in the face as hard as he could.

Totodile charged at the mecha, but instead of jumping right at it, Totodile jumped up at Gardevoir who had her beaten up dictionary in her paws and used it to jump Totodile off higher and using Aqua Tail, followed by a downward Slash before reaching the ground.

Captain Wujek grunted and attempted to stomp on Totodile. Quickly, I had used Psychic, focusing my energy at the mecha's leg and keeping it up to allow Totodile to escape unscathed. Bayleef jumped up and used Magical leaf at the back of the mecha. Espeon with her Psychic threw barrels directly at the cockpit forcefully, causing the dome to crack a little. "You rotten! How dare you! This was expensive to produce!" Then he regained balance. Opening up the mecha's palms revealed five small holes and shot out ten missiles into the air twenty feet up before falling back down. Captain Wujek moved the mecha so it crawled into a ball then after a shield surrounded the mecha.

"Everyone, form up!" I quickly called to everyone to gather around me. Latias came first, followed by Totodile, Bayleef, Espeon, Golurk and lastly Gardevoir. Me, Gardevoir, Latias, and Espeon all together used Protect to merge to create a powerful version of Protect before the missiles had fell to the ground. The missiles hit and exploded upon impact creating a firestorm around us damaging the building's front doors breaking them off its hinges and large windows shattered beside it. The missiles didn't touch us inside our Protect, we were safe from them, but the firestorm surrounding us had burnt us slightly around our feet and legs. After the firestorm had completely gone away, so did Captain Wujek's shield and ball form now standing directly in front of our Protect with his arms raised before slamming down on us hard causing our Protect to shatter and break. All of us retaliated and used our moves again to attack, but one by one they were hit with Captain Wujek's attacks using his arms to slap us around, its leg to kick us back into a wall, or some tear gas released from the mecha's fingertips. With a loud clicking noise from the mecha's hands where the missiles were being loaded about to use the same attack again, most likely to finish us off this time, all of us were suddenly alerted to a loud noise which echoed the entire battlefield as all soldiers had ceased firing, all to look up at the source of the noise.

Towards the sky amongst the clouds, all of us could see one of them glow with radiant light, then a loud roar burst as a large Pokemon flew down at us, or more accurately into Captain Wujek's mecha as Lugia had used Sky Attack right into the chest of the mecha breaking off both its legs and arms upon impact sending it flying right into the surrounding wired fence of the base.

Golurk approached the cockpit and tore it off revealing Captain Wujek bloodied and beaten, struggling in his seat trying to tear the seat belt off to climb out. All of us got together and stood around him.

"Phew… w-whoa!" He got up slowly, but as soon as he did he stumbled back down to the ground leaning against his destroyed mecha. "I… I wasn't even supposed to be *hack* to be… p-piloting t-this thingy, some other guy… but I wanted to fight. I wanted to fight and see what the holdup was, what the idea was between you and Shiny Latias… w-what does a Pokemon like Shiny Latias want to do with little guy like y-you for?"

Espeon held him up with her Psychic, crushing his neck while forcing him up close to her face. "Where can we find the bitch?! Is she inside the base?" Captain Wujek nodded and slowly with a struggled movement of his arm, he lifted his thumb up briefly before his arm became limp, he was unconscious now, defeated. Espeon released him from her Psychic hold and set him back against his destroyed mecha.

Turning to the others I asked. "You guys alright?" They nodded, dusting off some dust and covering up with their paws their burnt fur from the missile attacks.

"Zack," Lugia s lightly shook me with its paw. "While I was up in the sky I scanned the entire building and noticed there were several soldiers preparing to use the tanks at the sides. Not only that, but I also saw helicopters patrolling the southern section of the base. It'll be difficult for the soldiers to move in if there are tanks here. I could stay out here and take them out. It's not like I'll fit through those front doors anyway with how big I am."

"Alright. Good luck Lugia. But don't take any risks." Lugia nodded immediately took flight and flew around the corner of the base to begin to take out the tanks.

"Yo Zack!" Herman called out as he and the others approached. "Courtyard is clear, what are our orders, boss?"

"We could stay out here and take out the remaining soldiers. These Savior soliders don't look like they had seen much combat up till now." Sakoto suggested as she loaded her weapon in preparation for the next step of the fight. "Or should we go with you and back you up against whatever's inside?"

She was right. These Savior soldiers were inexperienced, just picked up a weapon and ran in to battle with as little as week's worth of training or less. They didn't have many experienced members here on the team, only the equivalent of a rookie or a novice, I was surprised almost all of them survived the first wave, they would most likely have trouble facing the next wave, let alone a tank or more. Sakoto and her team were more than enough to help lead this team outside while me and my Pokemon faced Shiny Latias. "Sakoto, lead the soldier's out here while we search for Shiny Latias in the base. Be careful though, Lugia said it saw soldiers preparing the tanks and piloting the helicopters around the base."

"We will. See you when this is over!" Sakoto turned with her team and ran towards the Savior soldiers.

"Zack, are you alright?" Latias nuzzled me, noticing something I hadn't noticed before. Looking down at my chest, I saw small shards of metal sticking out of chest. From where I was, I noticed a large burnt mark underneath her chin, so I placed my paws on her face before pulling out the shards of metal out form my chest.

"I'm alright, but I should be the one asking you that." Latias smiled and hugged me. "I don't want to see you getting hurt out there."

I then glanced at Espeon standing just a little but off to the side staring at us with a sad frown. She looked down at Latias' stomach and shook her head with a sigh. "L-Latias… wait! I can't do this." Espeon walked a little closer towards us. "I know you have wanted me to stay silent about it, b-but I can't, it's not right. Especially not to Zackary, he needs to know. You need to be safe."

Latias levitated up off the ground and towards Espeon lowering to her level so they were face to face. "Espeon, it'll be alright, so trust me on this. I promise I'll be careful. I'm not going to die." Espeon turned to me about to say something, but again she sighed and turned away from us and towards the entrance of Team Doom. "Fine… b-but I don't like it…" I don't know why I didn't ask what was going on, but no, I was too focused on the mission to see Shiny Latias pay for what she had done instead of what my friends had to say or what was on their mind.

Turning towards the front entrance of Team Doom's HQ standing beside me were my Pokemon. "Let's go." Was all I said determined to see this over and done with. I didn't know what would happen, who we would face inside or how this would end, but one way or another, Team Doom just like with Team Annihilation would fall.

To be continued...

* * *

**Trivia:**

The location for the final battle was originally Team Annihilation's old HQ from the first story instead of a new location for this story.


	36. Chapter 36 Thunder

Chapter 36 - Thunder

* * *

****

**Team Doom HQ – Main Entrance**

A building of cold iron and steel, void of bright colors, void of light on the outside, but inside was fancy in a way; red soft carpets, wooden walls and expensive looking furniture, paintings of specific landmarks from around the world, and in front was a grand staircase leading towards the next level of the building with many doors all around leading to others areas of the building all lit up by bright ceiling lights above. On this floor through one of the many doors, or up the staircase to the next level, wherever Shiny Latias was within the base, we would find her. But where to start first?

"Shiny Bitch-ias should be around here somewhere, coward." Espeon growled "This place is pretty huge, she could be anywhere waiting for us to show up as the final boss. Let's check out the lower floors first before advancing any further upwards. We might miss something otherwise, like a Revive in a Pokeball like box or some Pokedollars lying around."

I agreed on this and together we looked through each and every one of the lower floor doors first, for Shiny Latias, or one of the human Team Doom members. Maybe I could find Jessica here and together we could team up to take down the enemy. But despite each room we searched in, every corridor and hallway we entered and passed, we would not find anyone at the lower floor of the building. Perhaps we would find better luck upstairs up the grand staircase to the next floor.

Dorm rooms to the right of the first floor, a doorway on the right side leading to the next flight of steps to the next floor, and the door next to that was the dining hall. The dorm room we entered first searching the women's dorm first, then the men's dorm next to find them both empty, nothing to give us any sort of clue to where we might find Shiny Latias or the human turned Pokemon Team Doom members within the base. A map would've been helpful for this situation, I called Reiko on the radio to ask if she had any files on Team Doom's HQ, a map or anything to give us hints to where they might be, but sadly she didn't, we were blind in here and had to search for them, the long way. Not knowing if we were heading in the wrong way, that each wrong step we took, outside our soldiers outside were losing the battle, we had to hurry and end this before any more lives ended.

We entered each room of the building on every floor before advancing to the next one; training rooms with unused equipment and training gear, a large room with cubed offices with computers on every desk all required a password to enter, but none we could access, maybe give us a helping hand on figuring out where Shiny Latias was or anything they could give us about the base. We entered the library located on the sixth floor, a large maze-like room with tall bookcases of many books, and of course Gardevoir attempted to run over to the dictionary's but was easily held back by Golurk who had to carry her out before she got lost while reading.

But despite out search leading us nowhere, we never gave up. Over six floors and all of the rooms we found we searched through them all refusing to give up. But then we came to the eighth floor…

* * *

****

**Team Doom HQ – Eighth Floor – Labs**

On this floor was the main laboratories of the base, a lab were all scientific experiments and research was done, by someone rather than a team of scientists. Team Doom only recruited one, they only needed one, and that scientist worked better alone than with a team.

In this room we found tables at one side of the room topped with filled vials of who knows what, the other, chalkboards and file draws full of research notes and equations, something I couldn't figure out what it meant. On one of the chalkboards beside the other with the equations on it were one with the words circled at the top 'Doom Serum' with questions underneath asking possible changes and lifespan the human turned Pokemon members can turn into or how long they can live up to, even if they can breed with another and the possible affects an offspring may have. And right at the bottom of the board was the question 'Is it possible to undo the change?' with the text beside it 'not yet solved'

Leaning against a small table near the chalkboard was a large Pokemon I had only seen a few times in movies or on TV documentaries; it was Regirock, but unlike the ordinary brownish colors, this one was completely yellow with red eyes, "_so this one was a human turned Pokemon Team Doom member."_ I thought, preparing myself to attack it. The Regirock spoke in a soft voice, still turning his back at us, focused on the empty table before him.

"I would welcome you all to some of my fine tea I have kept for the rare occasions on having a visitor such as yourselves. It shall take some time for the pot to heat up the water, it'll take time… but unfortunately we do not have time for tea, tis quite the shame to, from what I am told it really is a delicious tea. It helps calm the mind, relaxes the aching body…" The Regirock slowly turned towards us, his stone feet slamming down heavily on the metallic mesh floor. "But the thing is, I am always told what food and drink tastes like all of my life; salty, sweet, sour, bitter, a hint of mint, a dash of pepper, delicious, disgusting…" The Regirock held up his arms up to his face slowly. "I was born numb not only to taste, but to all senses I have longed desired to experience; not feeling any pain, pleasure, even hunger which almost went unnoticed most days, never knowing how much was too much or how food affected my stomach and body. I longed for all of that including touch of my mother's warm hand wrapped around my own, to touch my child's tiny hand lovingly after my wife gave birth to my beautiful daughter."

"I became a scientist to get rid of all of that, not only to taste food for the first time in my life, but to actually hold my daughters hand with my own, to feel… but I could never find a way to do so, and so I became this what you see before you; a being I believed would grant me feeling, it would grant me something I had never experienced… but I only got this new form and nothing much else."

"Where is Shiny Latias? Is she even in this building? Answer me!" I demanded with anger in my voice, using my Razor Shell and pointing the tip of the blade at Harry. I was angry, tired after searching all this time for Shiny Latias not to find her yet. I wanted her to pay for what she had done. I didn't want to search the rest of this building after coming this far just to find out she isn't even here and this was all just a waste of time.

"Shiny Latias resides at the top of the base overseeing the battle she foresaw. With her army battling just outside with your own little band of soldiers, she waits for you to arrive, only then will the two of you will battle." He pointed upward with his fist at the ceiling. "The twelfth floor if where she is at, no other soldiers within the base apart from the last surviving members of the Team Doom Eight members al waiting for you to arrive. And now we must fight."

"Zack," Latias whispered into my ear behind me, but I still kept my eye on Harry, ready to dodge or to attack should he try anything. "I'll go on ahead and find my sister."

"Latias, no! It's too dangerous to go on alone!" I argued, not wanting her to go alone in this place. Especially if the other members of the Team Doom Eight were somewhere in this building. They could have already set up a trap further on ahead.

"No one will see me coming." Turning, I saw Latias' body from head to tailfin glow until she became invisible to the naked eye. "So don't worry about me. I love you Zack." She kissed me on the cheek, and then I felt a small gust of wind as she flew off out of the laboratory. About to go out after her or at least call her back, Harry flipped over the table and shouted.

"So let us make this a fight to remember then, shall we?!" Harry started the fight by using Rock Throw as he dug into the floor and hurled a large rock at us, all of us managed to dodge it at the last moment before impact, but what we didn't dodge was the shards after the rock smashed upon impact managing to stab me at the back of my right shoulder and Gardevoir's left calve. Thankfully the shards didn't do too much damage to us, and so we were able to get back into the battle.

Totodile charged in first and used Aqua Tail, it was a direct hit and since that was a water type move against a rock type it should inflict a super effective strike. Harry with both of its fists grabbed Totodile midway before he could return to the ground. With a light chuckle, slowly Harry's body began to charge with electricity. "I commend you on your bravery little Totodile, I believe if we kept you involved with the fight, things would be over in a flash. Say goodnight. Thunderbolt!" Harry charged a powerful current of electricity into Totodile and threw him back into the wall behind us knocking him out cold.

Bayleef charged in with Magical Leaf attacking him multiple times with the attack, but the attacks despite pushing him back didn't seem to affect him. Could it be because he is unable to sense pain he isn't reacting to it? Or was it something else? Perhaps his ability that all of the Team Doom Eight have? Me with that absorption after defeating a Pokemon, Jessica with her nightmare ability creating a realistic nightmare world, Nathaniel with his immunity to fire, but then what does Harry have?

"Bah, if I could feel pain, let alone these petty attacks, most likely the equivalent to a mosquito bite I would flick you off or squash you flat… hmm, I think I'll just do that anyway."

Bayleef had no time to react when Harry suddenly charged right her, his arm above his head as he slammed his arm down at her with a power Hammer Arm knocking her to the ground. Preparing to use the move again, Harry charged up his other arm, but I wouldn't allow him to. I threw my Scalchop at his head pushing him back before he could strike. Bayleef struggled to her feet as she limped back to us, but not before she turned back and used another Magical Leaf directly at Harry's chest, pushing him into the cabinets breaking them and sending the contents inside smashing to the floor, including a photo frame.

Harry glanced down at the photo frame for a short moment before slamming his fists into the cabinet and growled with anger as he ran towards us. Harry started attacking us trying to punch at us. We dodged most of his attacks, but the attacks we didn't dodge did some good damage to us. When I was punched by Harry into my chest I was knocked back into the large table with the filled vials, shaking one or two vials off and smashing its contents onto the floor to see it freeze over quickly. Harry charged at me again, and without thinking, I grabed one of the vial off the table and threw it at him, but it got his lower right leg just below the knee, and upon impact it froze that part of his leg and caused him to lose balance and stumble into wall almost breaking it. But he didn't stay down for long, Harry got back up and continued swinging his arms around trying to punch anyone that got close to him, and the closest Pokemon he found was Espeon.

Espeon sat there and accepted a punch by Harry square right in the face, but she didn't retaliate in anyway, she just sat there accepting whatever Harry threw at her while closing her eyes as if she were concentrating, then she opened her eyes and her jewel began to glow, "Future Sight!" a ball of energy formed before her and charged right into Harry's chest knocking him over onto his back with a loud thud. Espeon used a powerful Psybeam directly at his chest with far enough power to keep any other Pokemon down while me, and Golurk attacked with our own moves to weaken him, or enough to finish the battle off for good, but Harry slowly got up breaking free from the Psybeam by using Earthquake to lose all of our footing falling to the floor.

Gardevoir used Teleport to evade multiple Rock Throw's by Harry trying to hit her next, but she was too fast. She teleported multiple times around the room where me or the others weren't so Harry wouldn't hit them. Gardevoir then used three Telport's in succession gaining closer and closer to Harry. By the time she used the third Teleport, Harry had already charged up ready to use a Hammer Arm directly in front of himself, ready for Gardevoir to appear, then she did, but she didn't appear in front of him, she appeared behind him and used Psybeam pushing him forward and knocking him over to the floor face first.

Harry climbed to his feet once more, but it was slower this time, was he weaker? He needed to be stopped and fast. Latias had already gone on ahead in search for her sister in this place, I had to know she was alright, and I was not going to allow Harry to block our way. Evading his Zap Cannon as it instead hit Golurk to no effect, I used Water Pulse sending a jet of water directly at Harry's face; he was confused as shown by his endless stumbling about and hitting himself with his own attacks. And with one last jump above him I struck him down with a Razor Shell from his head to his torso and watched as he fell backwards, he was defeated.

Turning to the others, I asked. "You guys alright?" I asked, walking over towards a roughly beaten Bayleef and Totodile offering them a Potion to help heal their wounds.

"T-thanks Zack…" Bayleef winced harshly after the Potion I applied to her touched her wound. I knew what a Potion felt like after applying it to a wound, almost like iodine for how there was like a burning sensation, to try to compare it, maybe a little better. "I… I could be better… but nonetheless I'll be alright… ouch…"

Espeon and Gardevoir walked up to us, Gardevoir limping a little from the shards of rock still stuck into her calve, and Espeon with a cut on her left cheek. "Whew, that beat down I received sure did hurt, like I was run over by a truck, or at least my face was. But I am still good to go whenever you are Zackary. Gardevoir here looks like she's about to pass out any moment now."

"I'm uh… I'm good, yup… v-very good… I-I uh, I'm going to sit down now." Gardevoir sat down still shaking from the shock of battle. She slowly opened her dictionary. Expecting to see her read from it, she instead tore out a page and… placed it in her mouth and started to eat it… that's a new one.

Harry then gasped as he tried to stand up, but he couldn't. He did that many times refusing to give up. "He's still alive." Espeon said as she applied her own Potion to her face, wincing as the Potion began to heal her wounds. A man who grew up without sensation, I could only imagine what that may be like. Together we defeated him, but I was the one who landed the final blow, his life energy would be absorbed by me soon, he would die. The last time my ability did that to other Pokemon, it killed them, but it showed that they all died a painful death.

"Mei…" He gasped. "I wanted to see her again after I could finally feel, that I could finally taste food and share a meal at a restaurant with her and her mother. I had so much that I wanted to do, a list of things I longed to try… b-but I can't now. Mei must be in her twenties by now, last I saw her, held her little hand was when she was four years old…" Henry sniffed. "I left them so that I could find a way to feel, to taste. My wife at the time didn't agree with me leaving them, but I did anyway, hating how I couldn't feel or taste. What did she say to Mei after I left? Did she tell her that I ran out on them? She must've done. Does she hate me, her own father? Does Mei remember me? Does she remember my face? I only wanted to find a way to become normal." Henry slowly closed his eyes and laid both of his arms down, as his last remaining energy was gone, or he just accepted his defeat.

"I don't know what death feels like. But I imagine it is like falling asleep… if I could have one thing, anything that I wanted, it would be to see my daughter one last time. But I wouldn't speak nor tell her it was me, her own father now this abomination, she probably hates me and wants nothing to do with me in this world or the after world, but seeing the face of my Mei after so long apart, just stare at her in silence before I died, not knowing it was her father before her, a reassuring memory would make it all better for me, knowing she was alright and living a happy life… one I can never be a part of."

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

The battle against Henry was originally supposed to appear in the previous chapter, but I had to get the OC character in some way, and this chapter was just the characters from start to finish run and search and nothing much else.


	37. Chapter 37 Brothers

Chapter 37 - Brothers

* * *

**Team Doom HQ – 9th ****Floor**

Ren patrolled the ninth floor searching each room for any intruders that had infiltrated the base not too long ago. 'Savior Soldiers' was what Ren was told who had attacked; they knew the Savior's would attack soon, but not this early. But with the Savior's he knew he would see me again, wanting to kill me or my friends if he could.

"Attention all Doom soldier's" A voice from Ren's radio in his paw announced, and Ren listened in to each word. "The Team Doom Eight member' Harry has fallen to the intruders. They were last seen on the eighth floor stairway heading to nine. All available soldiers head to the rooftop on the double to protect the boss. The intruders must not reach the rooftop!"

"How pathetic, Harry defeated by Zack?" Ren scoffed, continuing his patrol through the corridor, nearing the corner. "Harry's a Rock and a Thunder type, which should've been enough to kill him. Eh, he was a scientist and not a soldier, so I guess I should've seen that com-" By the time Ren had reached the corner of the corridor, I punched him as hard as I possibly could if not more right in his nose knocking him down.

"Nope, you should've saw that punch coming, bitch." Espeon added as she emerged around the corner with the others, grinning at Ren as he bled from his nose. "So since you are already bleeding and if you don't wanna bleed anymore, how about you give yourself up and surrender. Cause looking at you like this is kind of pathetic. Team Doom is falling faster than they could even lift off of the ground. So since your members are in the tens, losing in every corner, why not give up?"

"You think I'm just going to give myself up to the likes of you just like that?!" He growled, standing up in one swift motion wiping away the drops of blood that trickled off his chin. "Team Doom is strong. Shiny Latias has a plan, a plan so good we'll have total control of this-"

"Save it!" I interrupted, reaching out to grab hold of my own scalchop ready to engage in battle with him. "Team Doom is history. Guys," I said, still facing Ren as I spoke. "Find Latias, keep her safe." I wanted Latias to be safe. I didn't trust her sister, not one bit. Shiny Latias would definitely try to hurt her, possibly kill her if she could, refusing to listen to her no matter what she said. Not only did I want them to go search for Latias, but I also wanted to deal with Ren alone. Not wanting to risk their lives during the battle with Ren.

"Mr Zack-" Golurk started to say, but then sighed looking back towards the stairs. "Understood, be safe." The others along with Golurk carrying Gardevoir still injured from the battle with that captain Wujek, quickly made their way towards the stairs leading to the next level.

It was now me and him alone in this narrow corridor, nothing but what we have, our skills to see who would come out the survivor while the other defeated, alive or dead, two outcomes I didn't know which one I would grant him. If he gave me the choice to let him live I would take it and be on my way leaving him behind. Should he leave me with no other option then I would have to end him.

"Come to die have you?" He said as he too activated his Razor Shell pointing it at me preparing himself for battle. "That won't go well for you, cause I am a Dark type and you are a Psychic. Now which one will come out on top in the end?"

"Just because you're a Dark type and I am a Psychic type doesn't mean I don't have chance against you." I readied my scalchop, holding it firmly with both of my paws. With all of the training I had done over the past several months, I had hoped I would be ready for this. No interruptions this time, I had to fight him, to end this once and for all between us. I had something I wanted live to see, many things I wanted but one I could only have if Latias was there; a life with Latias. I had to know she was alright, that she was safe. I had to be serious with this fight; I had to give it my all. All of my training has been leading me to this moment. Would I survive, and my future with Latias be just right around the corner for me? Or would it end with me dead? All would be answered after the fight.

We stood in silence staring down at the other armed with a scalchop both using Razor Shell to strike down the other. My mind was clear of all thought, I had to focus, and I had to wait. I wanted him to make the first move, and then I could counter it if I could. Should he attack me by charging at me with a Razor Shell, then I'll block the attack and use Water Pulse to knock him back and strike his paw with my Razor Shell and hopefully disarm him without killing him first.

And we ran at each other as fast as we could. I wasn't sure which one of us started to run at the other first; me who wants to both settle the matter with Ren and search for Latias making sure she is safe, or perhaps it was Ren who stepped forward running towards me wanting to kill me to exact his revenge. Our Razor Shell's clashed with another, refusing to hold back our power in order to defeat each other. I evaded by back stepping as far as I could whenever Ren's Razor Shell neared me by either a slashing motion if my own Razor Shell wasn't near my body to defend myself, but whenever he trusted his Razor Shell trying to stab at me, that was when I was able to block it block, hoping to find advantage in this attack, but he was too quick for me to find an opening.

With one downward strike with his Razor Shell at me I blocked the attack just in time and the two of us glared at the other, he pushing all of his weight down trying to break through my defense, and me trying to find a way to slide the attack off of his Razor Shell and disarm him somehow. That was when he spoke.

"Rachel was my mentor!" He shouted as our Razor Shell's clashed with the other. "She was my friend! You killed her!" Ren quickly back flipped and used Dark Pulse before I could use Razor Shell to slash at his arm to disarm him. The Dark Pulse he used summoned up a dark fountain up from the ground underneath my feet. I dodged the attack but I was too slow, my feet and the tip of my tail took the hit. Because of my weakness to dark, because I was half Psychic type, the Dark Pulse hurt my feet and tip of my tail badly, like I just stepped on the hottest thing in existence, it sure felt like it, so I could only imagine what the full affect would do to my body.

Ren quickly used Swords Dance as five images of Dewott sized broad swords floated around Ren's body momentarily before flashing away. His power was now stronger than before, so I had to be careful around him or else this battle would and quickly with me defeated and dead.

Ren ran at me again and used a barrage of combination attacks such as Razor Shell mixed with an Aqua Jet as his body was surrounded by water lifting up off the ground and flying everywhere spinning his Razor Shell's within his Aqua Jet every moment he got close to me. I blocked the first set of attacks from him, but he managed to break through my defense and cut me up on both my right shoulder and upper right arm. Any deeper and I might as well say goodbye to my right arm, or bled out before I lost it. So the best bet was to avoid his Aqua Jet/Razor Shell attack rather than block it.

I ran around the corridor avoiding his attacks, jumping or rolling to the side, whatever I could do to avoid being hit. But I couldn't keep this up forever, and neither could he stay up in the air using Aqua Jet endlessly. I could try and strike him with my Razor Shell, wait for him to get in close and I could try and hit him, break him out of that Aqua Jet/Razor Shell and fight him normally, but a close ranged strike could be risky. Maybe I could try using Water Pulse and throw him off course.

And so I did by stopping in my tracks to avoid Ren to quickly turn around and used Water Pulse one at a time using the move trying to hit him as he flew up in the air. Out of the seven I fired at him, only three managed to hit his flying stream of water; one in where Ren was, the rest at the center. I thought I would have to use more Water Pulse's to work against him or at least something else more effective, but then I noticed his steady Aqua Jet was slightly bouncy in a way going on and off now and then. His Aqua Jet was failing him, the water struggling to keep him up in the air and Ren almost falling to the ground. So he decided to stop using Aqua Jet to make a clear landing on the ground.

The moment his feet touched the ground, I had managed to hit him with my Water Pulse sending him crashing into the far wall of the other side of the corridor, but that wasn't enough to keep him down. He got up again and held up one of his scalchops and reactivated his Razor Shell and held it up, preparing to charge at me, I did the same, and it was time to end this.

The two of us stood at both ends of the corridor, our scalchop's firmly grasped in both paws with a Razor Shell at the ready. Then we ran at the other to strike the other down. One false move, if I acted too slowly and it could end in my death. I had to be accurate if I wanted the land the hit I needed for this battle to end how I wanted it to, if I wanted it to end right then and now so I do not waste more time, time I wanted to use to find Latias and protect her.

We were merely twenty meters away from each other gaining closer and closer ready to attack by the second. Upward strike, horizontal, trick him somehow by making him think I am about to strike a certain way? Whichever strike I delivered had to be the one I needed for this battle to end the way I wanted it, and so I had decided before I even realized it. When we were just a step away from the other, both of us at the same time attacked the other swinging our Razor Shell's into the other with so much force I could feel myself backing away from the impact, but my body still kept on forward to deliver the final blow.

I felt my Razor Shell collide with Ren's briefly before sliding off and slicing into his flesh. Where? I didn't see. A deep wound, a fatal wound or just a light scratch that would barely do anything? I didn't know. I didn't feel anything not knowing if he did manage to land a hit slicing into my chest or stomach, a fatal strike. After that attack we stood still, holding up our Scalchop's raised up with Razor Shell still active in short silence.

The same thing had happened to me, Ren's Razor Shell slid off mine and sliced into my chest just below my left armpit. It wasn't bad, it wasn't deep but it would definitely leave a scar there, a nine inch long cut underneath my left arm. Looking back at Ren to see what my attack had done, I saw him drop his scalchop and knelt to the ground grabbing his right arm. I did do damage to him, not what I had in mind, but it was something. His right arm from his paw to his elbow had a long cut across his arm, a deep cut. I approached him, should he wish to continue with the fight despite his injury, I punched him in his nose once more hearing it break with a loud pop and he fell back onto the floor groaning in pain. He was defeated, but he still lived. My ability didn't see to that thankfully, but I had hoped it would be for the best.

"Me and Latias, we have a future together. I want to be there for her for the remainder of my long life. Starting a family with her, living our lives in peace without people like you causing trouble for us, without fighting the other risking our lives daily. I just want to live in peace." Throwing him down onto the carpeted floor, turning my back on him as I walked, I finally said before ascending the stairs to find my friends and Latias. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. But if we meet again, if I find out you are still after me, I won't walk away next time leaving you alive." And so his fate was to live, I had decided he would live. Glancing back at him, I saw him there knelt down sobbing; letting both the blood and tears drip onto the carpeted floor.

With luck or with skill, I had disarmed him and told him exactly what I want, what he could still do with his life if he chose to leave the fighting. Was it foolishness on letting him live to see another day? Would he listen to my advice and choose a life without the fighting? Would he one day take arms once more and start up his own Team Doom-like band of fighters to fight against me? I gave him the choice the leave me alone, I hoped he would listen and we would never have to fight again. I would've liked… maybe we could reconnect, that I could ask him one day about my real parents and my sister. But if we did see each other again, I had told him that I would kill him if so, but that wasn't true, I was still open on letting him in on my life, that one day we wouldn't see each other as enemies, not anymore.

To be continued...

* * *

**Trivia:**

Ren's fate was hard to determine, In one version Zack killed him after Zack promised to let him live, but stabbed him after Zack saying he needed Ren's power to defeat those who would get in his way. That kind of seemed uncharacteristic for his character and too dark, so it was cut in order to leave his fate ambiguous until I decide later on what exactly happened to him at a later chapter.


	38. Chapter 38 Dark Dreams

Chapter 38 – Dark Dreams

* * *

****

**Team Doom HQ – Eleventh Floor**

I ran as fast as I could up these long stairs ignoring my open wounds from the fight with Ren, ignoring my aching body's need for rest, I just had to find them, I had to make sure they were alright. With the previous floors I had passed before, I encountered no one; no guards, no other Team Doom Eight member, and thankfully no bodies. I didn't know how further up my Pokemon were, or what floor Latias was on, if she needed help or if she was in trouble… or worse. There were only three members of the Team Doom Eight left I had not yet seen. I had hoped to have seen Jessica at some point by now, but so far nothing. She had agreed she would help us defeat Team Doom once we arrive at the base; that captain before, the first assault on the base, Nathaniel's attack when he and his soldiers killed Sakura and Isaac, nothing.

I began to wonder whether or not she had abandoned me, that she was secretly working with Shiny Latias to spy on us, to learn our secrets or something. I suspected her to do something at least, not give us the silent treatment. Maybe I shouldn't have trusted her; maybe I should've taken her out while I had the chance…

With one last step up the stairs I was finally at the eleventh floor out of the twelve floors of this building to find a sight I wasn't expecting; my Pokemon, my friends all lying on the floor motionless, all except for Latias and Espeon. I thought they were dead, but that wasn't the case when a voice, Jessica's voice from the darker part of the room standing in the shadows, her purple eyes glowing. The last time I had seen her eyes glow like that was when she used that nightmare ability on me near Driftveil City when we first met. "They're not dead… n-not yet!" Jessica slowly levitated out of the shadows grasping at her head with both of her paws.

I grabbed my scalchop and demanded, "What did you do to them? I thought you were helping us!" Why did she betray us? I thought I could trust her. but it turned out she was like the rest of Team Doom. I had enough, I was about to charge right in and attack her to end this, but then her levitation sped up and flew right at me and grabbed my shoulders. "Z-zack…" She struggled to say through her teeth as she gritted them, wincing as if she were in pain. "I-I am not in c-control of my body… S-Shiny… Latias has u-used her ability o-on me… you g-got to k-kill me b-before kill you and y-your friends… my ability will stop completely if I am rendered unconscious, you m-must do it Zack, defeat Shiny Latias and stop the fighting. I-I'm sorry…" Jessica held the sides of my head with her paws as she leaned in close, her eyes staring right back into mine as she used her ability on me. 'Shiny Latias was controlling her now?' I asked myself. 'Damn it, of course. She must've known something was up. She must've spied on her.' I refused though. I wanted to help her, to save her, I refused to kill her. But how would I help her if my ability would absorb her life energy after I rendered her unconscious?

A bright purple light flashed before my eyes then followed by darkness. Everything changed, and I was somewhere else, a place where nightmares exist.

* * *

****

**The Savior's – Ceremony Hall**

I opened my eyes to find myself standing on a stage with memories I had not experienced yet, or feared to experience. A fear I have had since day one on this journey, what would happen if I involved the others on my journey to find Shiny Latias to exact my revenge; someone would die, perhaps all of them dead while I came back all in one piece.

This stage I was on, this room was the ceremony hall of the Savior's building, I had been here many times during my life as a member, but unlike those past previous times being here, things this time were different; the colors were off giving a greenish tone to everything when it originally was a warm golden color. Wooden floors, furniture and red curtains hanging above. The windows outside were dark, no stars or even lights from other buildings across the street, just windows with darkness and nothing more. The pillars at each corners of the room were curved, with strange spikes sticking out at the sides, when in reality they are perfectly straight and flat.

In this distorted world I was in front of people, so many people with blurry faces and ten foot tall curvy bodies all wearing white suits clapping as I was handed an award. Strangely, I had memories of this whole scenario I was in; I was the sole survivor after the Team Doom assault. Shiny Latias was dead, Team Doom and all of its members defeated, and the Unova region was once again safe, and I was being awarded for my heroic actions on saving the region, promoted as the leader of the Savior's.

Looking to the crowd for anyone I knew, I couldn't recognize a single one of them, no friends, no family, no one I knew was here. It was just me, the sole survivor who had come out alone after the defeat of Shiny Latias and Team Doom. 'A white Dewott named Zack Raines who had survived it all and came out on top' was what the newspapers in this dream world said 'The future leader of The Savior's, the one who would lead us all to a better promised future.' It was a life I didn't want. To be endlessly be going out on these missions risking my life every day. With everyone gone, what else would I have to live for? I feared that I wouldn't know.

One of the black suited distorted people approached me from the crowd and offered me his hand to shake. "Congratulations Mr Raines." He said, his voice was… strangely familiar… Cornelius? But in this world, he was still alive and he was a Rayquaza, my enemy. But as soon as he spoke again, another voice escaped his throat, one which made the fur at the back of my neck stand, Mom. "It must have been tough for you to go through so much; coming back home alive, alone, to lead The Savior's to a better world, a safer world. Just so you know, we are with you all the way-" Then the voice changed midway, a voice sounding just like Isaac "So don't worry about it, we will help you… we will help you… we will…"

The distorted man just stood there staring down at me with his arm extended out still waiting for me to shake his hand. I refused to accept it and instead walked away from the man off stage to meet the crowd before me, some clapping, others wishing me well for the future, others consoling me on the loss of my friends and family. Friends and family I knew were still alive in the real world, not here. Despite knowing this wasn't real, that these distorted humanoids were created from my mind, their words, the memories I have whilst here about me being the sole survivor and all of my friends and family dead worried me, I had to get out of here. but how? I got out of that nightmare world by… my friends calling to me? Espeon and Latias showed up, and everything returned to normal; no bodies, no blood, and no Shiny Latias with that grin of hers.

I approached the door of the ceremony room's front entrance expecting it to be locked or I don't know, painted on like dreams can sometimes be. I placed my paw flat on the door and brushed it, smooth and it felt realistic, wooden, exactly like how it should feel. And so I pushed it as hard as I could, the door creaked opened, which was odd since all of my years pushing and opening this door throughout my time as a member of The Savior's this door made no noise, not even once.

Expecting to see the same corridor I expected to see whenever I left the ceremony room, a long red carpeted corridor with wooden walls and two elevator doors in front of me, darkness, just like what I saw outside the windows before until it engulfed me completely.

I had wondered with this nightmare world I was in; how would this nightmare force me to get myself killed? Randomly attacked by those distorted people in there? Impalement on one of the spiked pillars of the room? Suicide by stabbing myself with my own Razor Shell? I mean I almost did last time I was in this world believing I had lost everything.

* * *

****

**The Beach Near Accumula Town – Totodile's Nightmare**

It was a place I knew well, a place I had been a few times growing up as a kid with both my mom, my sister Yuri, and Latias building sand castles on the beach, collecting shells. It was also the location I first met Totodile, my third Pokemon to join my team before I joined the Savior's. But like with the nightmare version of the ceremony room I was just in being all distorted and off, so was this beach. Green sand, a black starless sky, but despite no moonlight or anything above or nearby to be used as a source of light, I could still see everything. The ocean was dark hardly any waves crashing beside the cliffs at the sides of the beach that would create a pleasant sound. The palm trees at first seemed normal at first, but when I looked at the fronds expecting to see some kind of distorted something, what I saw instead were giant hands, hands all waving as if blowing in nonexistent wind.

Speaking of Totodile, I saw him on the sand not even inches just before the waves touched him surrounded towering over him were Croconaw's lightly pushing him back down into the sand whenever he tried to stand back up, crying and pleading for the Pokemon to stop, but his pleas were ignored, or the simply didn't care. Unlike the distorted people from the ceremony hall, these Croconaw were normal looking in appearance. "N-no… please stop! I beg you!" Totodile cried, flinching whenever one of the Croconaw's kicked his snout.

"Hey!" I ran over to the Croconaw's, pushing them back one by one away from Totodile, but they still came back to kick Totodile some more refusing to leave Totodile alone, no matter how many times I pushed them back, threatened them, or injure them. This nightmare world, it restored any injuries I gave them. "Totodile, come on, you got to get up!" I tried to reach out to him still trying to push the Croconaw's back as much as I could to prevent anymore further injury they were doing to Totodile.

"Why bother?" He sighed in defeat. Lying there just accepting the kicks from the Croconaw's. "They are right about me, they were always right. I am weak, I could never succeed anywhere, no matter how much I did or what I do, and I'm always destined for failure!"

The affect of Jessica's ability gets to their victims easily. It puts them in a nightmarish world and treats them harshly, convincing them that they can never regain their hope, their courage and strength. Jessica's nightmare ability must've connected us all somehow. If I could reach Totodile, then together we could search for the others, and then all of us could escape this place and find Latias. "That's not true, Totodile, and you know it! You're not weak; you couldn't have gotten this far otherwise. Over the years I have known you, I knew from the very moment when you joined my team so many years ago on a beach like this one, you had grown into a strong Totodile, a Totodile who would never give up for anything." Totodile looked up at me, despite being kicked in the face by one of the Croconaw's. "You have saved my life and others so many times I can't even count how many. What about Bayleef? What about your children? Don't you want to see them again and to let them know how much you love them? They know you are not weak, they know you are definitely not a failure; I know your children are proud of you they have a cool father like you, never giving up on them. And I'm proud to have a good friend like you Totodile. So are you really going to let these Croconaw's defeat you? Or are you going to help me take them down together?!"

"I-I…" He winced as he struggled to stand. The Croconaw's kicked harder this time, in his stomach mostly, but he didn't fall back down "I remember Croconaw's I knew from long ago, they were from my clan. Their ways on doing things, leadership, treatment of others, it was all terrible, and cruel. I wanted it changed, so I challenged them to become leader, I wanted a better lifestyle for us all, but I was beaten, harshly taunted by Croconaw's just like these things here." Totodile had stood up, his eyes shut tight as he growled his next words. "They called me weak; they abandoned me… weak… I'll show you who's weak!" Totodile used Scary face first causing the Croconaw's to jump back and shriek with strange distorted voices. Then Totodile jumped up high over the Croconaw's heads towards the black ocean, but before Totodile could touch the water with his feet, he used Surf summoning up a large giant wave of water at them carrying all four Croconaw's over the sand until Totodile returned the water back towards the ocean with the Croconaw's disappearing over the horizon.

"Hey, you said you were going to fight alongside me. Instead you just stood there and watched." He said as he dusted himself from the sand stuck to his belly.

I lightly scratched the back of my head. "Yeah uh sorry about that, but seeing you take down those Croconaw's alone like that you didn't need my help. You took care of them with ease proving that you are indeed strong, and definitely not weak."

"Thanks Zack, but next time I could use the assist. It's always good to have someone watching your back. Hmm… I must've looked pathetic back there. Those Croconaw's kicking me, taunting me. Saying over and over again that I could never be anything like them." I saw the Croconaw's kick him, but I didn't hear anything, especially no taunting or other voices. Perhaps it was exclusive for Totodile, hearing those voices. In my nightmare I had a fake memory of all of my friends and family dead, the sole survivor and welcoming party. So Totodile must've had sort of the same treatment as I did; fake memories, hearing voices, maybe seeing things that I couldn't see hinted at how Totodile watched the ocean cautiously, backing away on a few occasions, refusing to inch near it. But he wasn't looking at the ocean, no. He was looking up at something, something big. He told me that he did see something standing in the ocean, a creature he hadn't seen before, something he found both disturbing and frightening; a giant Arbok with large disembodied hands floating beside it with the face of a Pikachu smiling down at him and drooling.

"Pathetic? You're far from being pathetic Totodile. But next time, I'll be there to help you out."

"Where is this place? It kinda looks like my old home, but it kinda looks like something you'd see in a horror movie. That I'd know about all thanks to Espeon's scary movie Fridays, especially the strange ones that have hand-like trees everywhere… yeesh!" I explained to Totodile all about this nightmare world being created by Jessica using her ability. I also told him how Jessica had been helping me for a few months now; avoiding Team Doom, letting me know what route to take and how to avoid dangers. "Forcing the victim to kill themselves? Then we gotta find Bayleef and the others before it's too late."

The usual exits of the beach should've been back towards route 02 or towards Accumula Town, but these paths I remembered well were all blocked off by more of those hand trees blocking our way with their giant hands. Just attempting to cut into them spurted out red liquid of some kind… blood or jam, your choice on the matter. So in order for us to avoid cutting off the hand trees finger's and see what lies beneath their skin we chose to search for another exit to this nightmare world.

At the left side of the beach we found a small cave, one I remembered exploring in when I was a child, and when I was just starting out on becoming a member of the Savior's. The entrance was small for a human, but big enough for me and Totodile to enter. It was the only place on this beach we hadn't explored, a possible 'doorway' just like the same one I had entered through to escape my nightmare. If we walked through this, we might end up at someone else's nightmare, another one of my friends we had to save before the nightmare takes them.

* * *

****

**Unknown City – Alley – Bayleef's Nightmare**

We were in a city we didn't know the name of. An alley with tall buildings towering around us, a dark area with the only light source was the blue cloudless sky above, and car horns echoing somewhere in the distance. This alley was filled with cardboard boxes, old mattresses, and filled to the top trashcans creating a vile rotting smell throughout the alley. It didn't take us long to find the dreamer of this nightmare hiding within a cardboard box with Golurk standing beside the box trying its best to talk some sense into her; Bayleef.

"Golurk, you're here too?" Totodile said, running up to Golurk and taking a peek inside the box to find Bayleef crying and shivering. Not because she was cold, but she was afraid of something.

"Yes Mr Totodile. I managed to escape my nightmare and somehow ended up here where I found Bayleef crying and hiding in this box you see before you."

"How did you escape your nightmare?" I asked, walking up beside them as I watched Totodile try and calm her down.

"As soon as I came to this place, I was in a forest holding the body of my friend Mienfoo. But then I realized this was wrong." Golurk said as it knelt down. "You see I was a Golett at the time my friend was killed, that all of this was wrong. Also, she was still alive in a way, talking to me and saying that I failed her. She along with the rest of the voices I heard all refereed to me as Golett and not Golurk… I knew this was wrong and so I had to leave and find everyone of you. But I didn't leave right away. I stayed with her, just… just to remember her face, how we told stories to our friends where we lived." Golurk's friend Mienfoo was killed by hunters where Golurk lived. Told us stories most nights when it was just me, Espeon and the rest of us while out on missions, kind of like bedtime stories. Golurk's favorite was a story Mienfoo told once, it was about a Butterfree, a blind one that wanted to be the best Pokemon a trainer could have, but it feared that because of it being blind it would be seen as a hindrance, something to slow them down, it trained not only with its moves, but its other senses it could use for battle. For months it searched for a trainer who would accept it, not caring about what it could and couldn't do. At the end of the story, i remember Golurk told us that the Butterfree did find a trainer, but not really a serious trainer in a way, but just someone who was looking for fun in battling other trainers, not wanting to be serious. The Butterfree didn't really care about being in serious battles, it just wanted to be accepted, and it finally did.

"I can hear him…" Bayleef squealed. "H-his voice, I can hear him… he's close by…" Bayleef was shivering I fear, inching further inside the cardboard box and using her leaf to hide from what she was afraid of outside the box.

"Hear who's voice?" Totodile crawled inside the box and cuddled beside her. "Bayleef-"

"Him, my old t-trainer!" Him, I knew who she was referring to. Charles, he was Bayleef's old trainer, a trainer who was both cruel and horrible to his Pokemon. He had treated them in no way a Pokemon or anybody should ever be treated. When Bayleef was a Chikorita, me along with Sakura and Isaac had to escort her to reunite with her trainer not knowing what kind of trainer he was at the time. Chikorita was hard at first, but slowly opened up to us. Then when we finally arrived at the city where we would meet her trainer, she ran off, refused to go with him. She even battled him and his Pokemon to show him that she refused to go back to him. she won the battle and evolved into a Bayleef, and that was the last time we ever saw Charles. She never told us, but she still had nightmares about how terribly she was treated by him; always trying to make her stronger through harsh training, fighting when she was too weak to fight, against Pokemon that could easily defeat her because of either type advantage or how powerful and experienced they were. And most of the time it would end with Chikorita fainting, or left badly injured to the point she couldn't walk for weeks.

"No, he isn't here. This place isn't real."

"B-but I can hear him, he says I need to be punished for running away. He wants to hurt me!" Totodile placed his paw on Bayleef's cheek and nuzzled her affectionately.

"Hey, you know I would never allow anyone to hurt you, let alone that horrid trainer. I would never allow his sorry face to ever come anywhere near you. But this place is a nightmare all of us our trapped inside." Bayleef lifted her head up turning to her mate, tears still leaking from her eyes. "Please, I'm not going to leave you alone in this place for you to suffer."

"Totodile…" She sniffed, turning her head out at the box into the alley. "T-this isn't real?"

I shook my head. "No. So how about we leave this place together." Bayleef smiled, but cautiously crawled out of the box. But when we took about four or five steps she stopped and turned to the right of us. To us we saw nothing but empty trashcans and old boxes, but to her she saw Charles staring back at her, walking slowly to her saying he has found her and would punish her.

Growling, Bayleef used Leaf Blade attack summoning many leaves to shoot at where Charles would be. "He's still walking towards me." She said, still staring at an invisible Charles. "If that had been real, he wouldn't be standing at all, it just fazed right through him as if he were an illusion, I mean he is an illusion, a fake… *sighs* it isn't real…" With that, Bayleef turned away from the invisible Charles and walked on ahead towards the exit of this nightmare with us following behind.

Together we walked down the alley, into the darkness just like we did previously with the other nightmares, and we were now at a new nightmare. Just one more to go until we could escape this place.

* * *

****

**Unnamed Library – Gardevoir's Nightmare**

In this nightmare we found ourselves surrounded by tall bookcases crammed full of so many books, books upon closer inspection were all gibberish when read, it didn't make sense, like with any other dream. But this wasn't like any other dream, it was dangerous, Perhaps even more dangerous for us traversing the minds of others, so we probably weren't in the clear yet. This was a library, one I didn't recognize, but an empty one void of any life, except for one; Gardevoir.

Gardevoir was sitting underneath a makeshift tower of thesauruses as she was sobbing in place wailing louder the more we neared her and her tower. "Ah, I am approached by… walking books." She said whipping an escaped tear from her eyes. "Books with arms and legs… f-freaks of nature! Books don't have leg or arms… oho no!" Walking books with arms and legs? So in this nightmare she see's us as walking books approaching her. I can imagine what that may be like, but seeing her reaction at us, she seemed frightened. Then again, anything other than a dictionary is off to her.

"Gardevoir it's us, your friends." I said, trying to approach her. But she grabbed a table leg and used it to try to bat me away from her fort she created.

"Stay back vile books of bland literature! You cannot sway me into reading your filthy content with your icky romance, cliché tragedies, boring adventures! The dictionary is THE one true reading material all should praise as the best book ever to exist!"

"Okay, " Totodile sighed. "I have seen Gardevoir say some odd things and do odd things now and again, but this… well, I guess you can safely say that Gardevoir has completely cracked. Nightmare or not, she still acts like this most of the time in the real world-"

"Totodile!" Bayleef interrupted "C'mon, she needs our help, so let's focus on helping her first instead of talking about how uh… odd she can be sometimes." Bayleef approached her and smiled. "C'mon Gardevoir, how's about you come out of your little thesaurus fort and come with us. I bet you'll find a unique dictionary you haven't collected yet."

"Thesaurus?" Gardevoir stopped crying and ask, her anger and voice rising. "Did you say thesaurus? I hate them I HATE THEM!" She screamed using a move to destroy her fort sending them flying in all directions. Thankfully none hit us and missed. Not that it would cause a lot of damage if they did hit us, but still…

"Gardevoir, settle down. It's me, Zack. Zack Raines, remember?" I said gently to her. Maybe she would calm down at least if she remember my name, the sound of my voice if she forgot them while in this dream. She stared at me for a minute or two before shaking her head.

"No! I know who Zack is, and he is not you!" She shouted while pointing at me with her wagging finger. "Zack isn't a book. He is a white Dewott, and YOU are no white Dewott. You are a vile plain old ordinary book trying to persuade me to read your boring content!" Instead of attacking us with her moves or by throwing a book at us, she used her Psychic to rebuild her thesaurus fort and continued to cry and shout at how evil we 'books' were.

"In the cave before we attacked Team Doom, you told me that you brought alone your dictionary, the one you brought along with you to help us fight Team Doom was your lucky dictionary. Don't you remember that?" It was something. I could've told her about her love for dictionaries and the time she brought me to her collection of dictionaries she stashed in the basement of my house. She turned it from an old dusty dark room to a brightly lit room with shelves upon shelves stacked against every wall with dictionaries ranging from different colors, rarities of the volumes, and hm… I guess that's about it. But I decided to tell her about her lucky dictionary instead. I know I could've told her all of that about her collection, but I felt that talking about it would make her realize that we weren't here to hurt her, and we certainly weren't walking books trying to harm her, I wanted her to come back to her senses.

"Wha-!? No way!" She gasped, crawling out from her fort. "Y-y-you must be… 'The Book of ones History'!" Um, I have never heard that book before. So Gardevoir explained for us. "You are a book that knows everything about the reader; a book of legend, a book so many scholars have tried to debunk its existence as just being plain stupid, a book many archaeologists have searched both land, water and sky, from the darkest pit, to the highest peak all in search of the book of legend! So you already know of me, but you shall never break me, vile book! I shall see to it that-"

"Misses Gardevoir." Golurk interrupted her. "Mr Zack is in no way this book of legend you speak of, and neither are we these walking books you think we are. But we including you are trapped in a nightmare no doubt had something to do with that Mew we fought."

Gardevoir lowered her head. Bayleef spoke to her next. "Yeah, we are here to defeat Team Doom. We are not your enemy, Gardevoir. We're your friends." Bayleef walked up to her and extended out her foreleg to Gardevoir. "Don't you remember me? It's me, Bayleef. I remember when you gave me a pocket dictionary for my birthday last year. A cute blue ribbon wrapped around it, and I used that same ribbon to wrap it around my daughter's leaf. Remember?"

Gardevoir's eyes began to tear up; she knelt down and wrapped her arms around Bayleef into a hug. "Oh Bayleef. I do remember giving you that beautiful dictionary for you." Gardevoir looked up at all of us and smiled. "I see you all as you are; my friends. And definitely not those terrible books anymore." Somehow she managed to pull us all down for a group hug. "You guys are all dictionaries in my eyes." We were all back together. And so one last thing we had to do now was to escape this place and get back to finding Espeon and Latias.

The library door was our only way out of this nightmare world, through the double doors and step into the darkness and we would be back outside again. But the problem with that was facing Jessica next. I didn't want to fight her or her to die because of my ability. But maybe I could reach out to her, to free her from Shiny Latias' control, but how? Maybe we just had to defeat her in battle first before she returned back to normal. I would have to leave it to my friends then if I want her to come out of it alive. But it would be risky; the battle could lead to one of my friends getting seriously hurt or end up dead. Then that whole anger thing I get, causing me to lose control will kick in and I might fight to see her dead.

* * *

****

**Team Annihilation HQ – Classroom - Jessica's Nightmare**

Instead of being in a new nightmare with the others or outside in the real world, I was in another dream. I was alone this time. The setting was inside a large classroom with forty desks all facing a chalkboard with the words written in white chalk 'Quiet, test in progress!' at the far end of the class room sitting at the desk with her head leaning on the desk was Jessica. I walked up to her and touched her shoulder to get her attention.

"Why are you still here, Zack? The exit is just over there. So take it and go…" She was right; at the front of the classroom to the side was the door, the only exit to this room, to this nightmare. So why hadn't she left yet? Instead she just sat there, crying and flinching every so often. Things I couldn't see no doubt, things I couldn't hear, only her. "I belong here. It's the only world I know. You can't hear them, see them, but I hear and see them all the time. I was ignored by both my peers and my parents; I was so lonely without anyone. I grew up and accepted it thinking that was normal, that everyone was always like that. They tell me how I am pathetic, born into all of this believing me to help the team grow stronger, but they see me as a disgrace to Team Annihilation and Team Doom. They what you can't see call me a traitor, Shiny Latias calls me worse, all because… because, I wanted someone to stop her. To stop her from hurting so many innocent lives, it just sickened me what Shiny Latias did to so many people she had captured, her methods of torture. Punishing those who had just made one tiny mistake, or talked back to her. All my life I was told being a part of Team Annihilation that it was for a good cause, but none of it was."

I pulled one of the chairs closer to her so I could sit with her and listen to her words. "She found out about us, how I have been secretly helping you and your friends. She wasn't sure at first, but I guess she must've seen me leave many times before to meet up with you and sent someone or a security drone to follow me, to spy on me. When she revealed to me that she knew about what I have been doing, I was so frightened I froze up, I believed she would kill me, or at least torture me first before being killed by her, but instead she controlled me, instructed me to attack you and your friends whenever you showed up here at the base. I did that, I stood right where your friends encountered me for so many days without any sleep, drinking or eating anything…" She lifted up her head from the desk. Her eyes reddened from crying fixed at the desk in front of her.

"I am trapped here, not because of my nightmare ability, but Shiny Latias still has control over me, I can feel it. I am beyond help. Even if you did try to help me, Shiny Latias' ability will still force me to attack you. And we both know that there is only one way for this to end…"

"No!" I argued. "There has to be a better way. A way for all of us to come out alive together. Please, there must be a way. I'm not going to let my ability kill you!"I didn't want my ability to kill anyone else anymore, it was a terrible thing. I wanted to help her, I wanted to save her, but I wasn't going to give up. Jessica looked up at me, her eyes filled with hope at first, but fell as they filled with sadness, and she had no hope that by the end of the day she would live to see the next sunrise. I didn't want to leave her here without trying. To escape this place and risking her life on fighting her in the waking world, killing her.

"There… there may be another way for you not to fight me." Jessica said as she wiped a tear from her cheek. "The darkness in the nightmare world I create because of my ability, it can either kill you, or send you to another dreamer who has been caught in my ability, and maybe it'll wake you up."

"W-what do you mean?" I asked, and she took my paw with both of hers and warmly smiled.

"You don't want to kill me, and so what I am about to do will make sure that you never will." She leaned in close, and kissed me on the cheek. "I'm happy that I met someone like you. Most of my life I have met terrible and cruel people and Pokemon, I'm glad that I met someone like you, someone who made my life seem a little brighter, even for a little while. Escape this nightmare world, before it consumes you, perhaps forever!" It was all she said before she got up out of her seat and threw her chair at the window smashing it upon impact and taking a run and jump through the window shouting "Go!" before I had the chance to stop her.

Jessica jumped out of the window; she chose to sacrifice herself so that I wouldn't be the one to kill her. From the window where Jessica had jumped out of, that same darkness I had seen many time before in this nightmare world, everything around it started to shatter and vanish in more darkness, spreading out into the classroom, destroying whatever it touched into nothing. I had to run, to escape this nightmare world before I would be trapped in here for who knows how long before anyone could help. I couldn't see it, but behind me I could hear the world shatter into nothingness behind me. And when I finally pushed open the door, the darkness had caught up with me and I fell before I could walk through, then the darkness took me… and then I woke up.

I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by my Pokemon, I was back. I awoke near the edge of the steps of the eleventh floor, I was surprised I didn't fall down and crack my head open. Most of my Pokemon were alright, but Bayleef and Gardevoir were injured from the attack by Jessica.

"Mr Zack, you are alright?" Golurk asked as it helped me up with its large hand. I nodded and still groggy after being in that nightmare world for who knows how long. Then as my body began to reawaken after being in that nightmare world, is started to remember Jessica. I got up and searched for her, and I did. But she wasn't dead, she was… breathing.

"As soon as we woke up from that vile nightmare, she fell unconscious." Gardevoir explained as she picked up her 'lucky' dictionary up off the ground, only to find several pages falling out. Surprisingly, instead of gasping or shrieking at this sight, she just shrugged it off and focused and focused on talking about what happened with Jessica. "We woke expecting a fight from her, but all she did was stand in silence for a short moment before she fell to ground. And then you woke up not too long after she fell."

I walked up to her and knelt down beside her. "Is she… alright?" Gardevoir walked up and knelt down next to me, placing her paw on Jessica's forehead.

"She's perfectly fine. Although I don't see why we should care about her after what she did to us."

I shook my head and told her, I told everyone as they stood around us. "She isn't to blame. Jessica has been helping us fight Team Doom since Mistralton City; evading their traps they set up, their ambushes, she told me about them all so she could get us here to help her fight Shiny Latias. She needed my help to put a stop to her reign of evil for good. Shiny Latias discovered Jessica was helping us out, so she controlled her to attack us here."

"So she's a good guy then?" Bayleef asked as she limped a little closer to us with the help from Totodile who was also limping as he walked.

"Yeah, so look after her for me. Keep her safe." I said to them as I stood up, glancing back at Jessica still hanging in there, still in the land of the living. She was unconscious, but she was alive. I was happy that my ability didn't kick in and see to it that Jessica's life energy would be absorbed into me making me stronger thus ending her life. I had hoped that after Team Doom was defeated along with Shiny Latias, I had hoped Jessica would find something better, a better life away from the fighting, she needed it after all she had been through. "You guys stay here, recover. I'll go on ahead. This won't take long. Only one floor left."

But first I had to find Latias and Espeon; I had to know they were still safe. And hopefully soon the fighting would end. I was still injured, many cuts and potential scars all over and low on health, but I had to continue on and not give up. All I had to do was climb.

To be continued...

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

Jessica was originally supposed to sacrifice herself to save Zack and his friends from the nightmares, but I didn't really like that idea and so I scrapped it so that Jessica would come out alive in the end. Not only that but I would like to branch out her character more and have her involved in future chapters. 

**AN: Two more chapters to go with 39 already halfway done so I could be done with that by Thursday and hopefully the last chapter on Sunday. Thanks again for reading, and until next time.**


	39. Chapter 39 Sisters

Chapter 39 - Sisters

* * *

**Team Doom HQ – 12****th**** Floor - Espeon's POV**

I had to run on ahead in search for Latias, couldn't let any of those Team Doom morons stop me from searching. Our first encounter on the eleventh floor was with this female white Mew. Obviously a human turned Pokemon Team Doom member attacking us. We fought as hard as we could, for as long as we could hoping Zackary could come running up the stairs to help take down this one, but he didn't show.

One by one our friends fell; first Golurk who had managed to use a Phantom Force on her inflicting somewhat damage, but she kept coming back to finish the job. Gardevoir… well she didn't do much other than flail around like an idiot and tripping over her own two legs… and you were fighting well before this…

Totodile was the next to have been defeated by the Mew, but not before he told me to run on ahead and find Latias while 'we' fought her off. That I had to find and protect her and that Zackary would help. Reluctantly, I ran towards the stairs ready to start the climb up to the twelfth floor hoping she would be there and not on the dang roof, cause Latias' tend to fly around. But I couldn't help but look back wanting to help them take down the Mew, because all those who had been defeated by her, a strange purple mist circled around their heads. 'What the heck is that? Is that her ability?' I thought as I watched the battle between the last Pokemon; Totodile against Mew, it didn't last long, she had defeated him and he too fell unconscious on the floor but not before managing to use Scratch against her. With all of them defeated, it wouldn't take too long for the Mew to take notice to me standing there at the bottom of the stairs staring at the aftermath of a battle, she would probably come after me next and Zackary would have to deal with her alone and Latias would be all on her own fighting whatever Team Doom member remained up there and Shiny Latias.

Out of breath, but still ready to keep on going, I finally reached the twelfth floor after a five minute run (yeah it was pretty long.) but I couldn't rest yet, I still had to find Latias.

The corridor unlike the previous ones, this one was larger than the others and only had one staircase leading to what I assume was the rooftop access. The floors were carpeted with white marbled walls and many white pillars stacked up high against the walls… fancy, I guess. But there almost halfway across this stupid fancy corridor was none other than Latias floating towards the stairs. "Espeon!- Uh, I mean, Latias!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Not knowing why I shouted my own name to Latias when I was trying to get her attention, thankfully it did and she immediately turned towards me and stopped. With an exhausted long sigh later after realizing she wasn't levitating towards me, I had to use up my already low energy to run as fast as I could towards her before she decided to move along again, and if those stairs leading to the roof are anything like that five minute stairs between the eleventh and twelfth floor, Espeon is no longer able to battle, Espeon has retired!

"Espeon! W-where are the others? Where's Zack?" She said as I closed the remaining the gap between us, I stood in front of her, looked up at her with a glare.

"Where are the others? Where's Zack?" I shouted in anger, more like worry than anger. "You could've been killed flying off like that! While you had flown off to go searching for that bitch of a sister of yours, the rest of us have had to deal with those Team Doom members. Some have almost killed us; we barely got out of a few of those battles with our lives, including Zack who is right now fighting his brother perhaps to the death. Oh but let's not worry about us because the only reason you are here is to find your fucked up sister and try to smoke 'em peace pipe, while you leave us to chase after you, worrying that you had already died!"

"How do you think Zackary would feel if you died? What about after finding out you were pregnant? He'd be distraught, it would break him!" I shouted, my voice carried throughout the corridor. It had to be said. She had to know how stupid this was, how she could've died if the last members of Team Doom were up here or if Shiny Latias was just lurking around the next corner and then slice her neck right open to bleed out. I would know if Latias did die, Zackary… he would no doubt chase after her just to see her dead. And after that, I suspect the worse could happen. The kind of thing she was playing at, it was dangerous. Flying off like that just to search for her sister to try and talk with her while we stayed and fight… Latias stared at me in silence as I said all of this. Listening in to every word I said, or just pretending to so she could go back and resume her search- No, she isn't like that. "I should've told him when I had the chance. Friends don't lie to each other. Zackary's my friend, my best friend, and I don't want to see him suffer." I told her this and her expression seemed to change to a somewhat understanding one, as if she was finally listening to me, that what she was doing was suicidal, it was dangerous for both her and her unborn child. "No one else has to die. Certainly not you, nor Zackary, our Pokepals….. and your sister I guess if she wants to listen to reason and abandon this antagonistic role she has." I wanted her to listen to me and come back to find Zack, or more importantly fight that Mew and save our friends first. Shiny Latias was dangerous. The farther away Latias was from her the safer she and her unborn child would be.

"Espeon… I know I was selfish, but I am not doing this just to talk with her, but I want to stop the fighting as fast as possible without anyone else having to get hurt." She cried, closing her eyes and placing a paw on her stomach. "I do want to try at least to talk some sense into my sister. I believe in redemption, call me stupid but I do believe I can try at least. I don't want Zack to kill anyone, he isn't a murderer. If he see's my sister again, if she sees him, she'll no doubt taunt him trying to provoke him to attack her."

"So you think Shiny Latias deserves to live after what she has done? The bitch killed Zackary's mom right in front of her in case you have forgotten. She just snapped his neck as if she were snapping a bundle of twigs together… "

"But maybe I can try and reason with her to stop all of this fighting. I know have said that many times before, but I want to try. I don't want to resort to killing her because she killed many before." Latias levitated down in front of me, allowing a stray tear to drip from her cheek. "I'm sorry Espeon, I didn't mean to worry you or the others. I just wanted to help."

"I know you want to help, but rushing into a battle isn't a good thing, especially if you don't have at least your trusty Espeon companion with you or your friends." Latias laughed along with me at that stupid word of advice. Yeah, I wasn't good at making good advices. "You never know, you might need someone backing you up if you go in there alone; healing wise, Ethers, Antidote's, or to help take down a foe with a higher level or better stats than you."

"I guess I acted far too rash." She laughed nervously.

"Yes you did, and if you were a little bit faster, then you and I would've met up on the rooftop by now!" An all too familiar voice was heard behind Latias. Turning, we saw her, Shiny Latias staring down at us with that annoying smug evil grin as she levitated closer towards us. I quickly jumped to Latias' side preparing to give it my all to defend Latias from this evil bitch.

"S-sister," Latias said cautiously as she levitated close to her. "Please, I want to talk to you." This was it. The conversation Latias wanted with her sister to persuade her to stop the fighting. Would it work? Would she be able to get through to her and the end of the fighting and our retirement just at the very next chapter? I had to wait and see, but at the same time carefully watch Shiny Latias at all times. You never know when this crazy bitch will turn things from zero up to a hundred in a matter of seconds.

Shiny Latias remained quiet, lowering her eye lids and scanning her sisters body language; from her shaky paws, nervous on starting the conversation, tears forming at the eyelids, and gritting teeth wanting to know what her reason for this talk was about. A pre-emptive strike upon her? Yes, why else approach the killer of her lover's mother than to strike first. She didn't know Latias, what kind of Pokemon she was like. But Shiny Latias allowed Latias to get that close to her, watching her every movement and listened. "Sister, I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to hurt anyone. Ever since you came into my life, not knowing I had a sister, I wanted to know more about you, about our parents… years without seeing one another after the downfall of Annihilation, I searched for you, not to hurt you, but I wanted to help you." Shiny Latias' expression had changed from a glare at the mention of Team Annihilation falling to a more softened one when she heard that Latias was searching for her to help her. "I believed that… maybe if we did see each other again, then maybe we could still be a family, that you could live with us."

"L-Liar!" She yelled, charging up a Psychic type move of some kind from her paws, shooting it at Latias pushing her back. That was it that was the moment talk was over and the time for action was here. She couldn't be reasoned with; she was too far gone beyond redemption. Latias was right about one thing; when Shiny Latias was taken care of, Team Doom would fall.

I jumped in between Latias to protect her from the bitch, using Confusion to give us some room, but she beat me to it by using her own moves first, one which hit us both. We had never seen Shiny Latias battle or use any of her moves before, so we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. I had assumed she would have a similar style to that of Latias; Mist Ball, Psychic, mostly Psychic type moves. Lifting up her paw and pointing it at us, a cold gust of Icy Wind blew into us damaging us with ice damage lowering our special attack. It was a move I was fine after, but with Latias being a dragon type, Icy Wind did a good amount of damage as she lowered to the ground already weakened by the move. But that didn't stop Shiny Latias from using her moves to levitate a pillar off the wall and throw it right at us with her Psychic.

I jumped over to Latias and immediately used Protect to shield us from her thrown pillar. The pillar hit my Protect hard destroying it upon impact and the pillar breaking it into many pieces scattered around here and there, pieces I gladly used against Shiny Latias sending bullet-like shards directly at her, but she had protected herself by grabbing another pillar with her Psychic as a shield before throwing her new pillar at us.

Latias managed to get up and levitate out of the way while I at just the right moment jumped up out of the way before the pillar could hit me. Latias used Thunder Wave sending a small charge from her paws directly at Shiny Latias hitting her square right in her chest. She was shaking a little, levitating in place and not moving. Was she paralyzed? Or was this a trick wanting us to move in at the same time when she can easily get us both? I waited were I was and used Future Sight. All I had to do was to wait a little and then I could attack her.

Latias moved in with a Dragon Claw at the ready, but Shiny Latias evaded her attack and grabbed her neck from behind and threw her right into some pillars.

"Nice try with that Thunder Wave, my little sister. But you failed. So try again if you can." Shiny Latias smiled, turned her head towards me still standing there and decided to throw another pillar at me… this was going to hurt… with the pillar already being thrown, Latias warned me to watch out for the pillar while she continued to fight Shiny Latias. Sure this was going to hurt bad, but at least I had my future sight to finally hit and damage her… here comes the worst pain I have ever felt in my life so far… physically. "Gwuah!" With a loud explosion, I was sent flying into one of the pillars against the wall with a heavy smack. I didn't feel the pain at first feeling a little bit numb when I opened my eyes surprised at first how I felt no pain, then a little scared thinking that I had now become paralyzed due to being hit by a pillar right in my left shoulder blade. But that wasn't the case, as once I moved my toes, hind and forelegs, moved my neck by an inch, I felt the worst aching pain throughout every inch of my body like I was on fire. "ESPEON!" I could hear Latias call to me as she was still fighting her sister. I managed to crane my head up to see Latias despite the pain I was feeling.

Latias used Mist Ball shooting a small blue ball right at Shiny Latias head; Shiny Latias saw this and effortlessly used a Protect shielding her from the attack as it exploded upon impact with her Protect. But after the explosion from Latias' Mist Ball, she moved in and used Dragon Claw right into her stupid face as she pathetically screamed from the damage she received.

But Latias didn't stop at that, quickly she charged right into Shiny Latias and used another Thunder Wave one after the other. It worked, Shiny Latias had been affected by the Thunder Wave's, she was paralyzed present with how much Shiny Latias was shivering and gasping every time she tried to move, let alone attempt to use another move to attack with. Without wasting her opportunity, Latias attacked her by grabbing her with Psychic as it engulfed her body and she used it to crush her letting out a wail as she could do nothing and feel just a small amount of what she had coming to her if not tons more. Shiny Latias screamed and used her own Psychic to break out of Latias' grip. She then used what appeared to be a Draco Meteor appearing above her as she started to shoot them down at Latias. Latias had to evade this attack. Not only would Protect shield her from how many there were being shot down, but she had to be aware of how much health and energy she had left. She was weak to that move, and just the right amount would see this battle end within a matter of seconds.

Latias evaded the first few meteors missing her by a few meters as she flew around the corridor as fast as she could, but the meteors were far too fast for her to evade them all. Latias was hit on her right wing by two or three of the many meteors that had fallen. Shiny Latias charged up her Psychic to attack Latias, a close range attack would probably do a good deal of damage to her. But Latias wouldn't back down; she used her own Psychic at close range also. The two sisters from one side of the corridor flew at one another at extreme speed and right into the other. Their moves had collided with each other's causing a massive explosion sending the two sisters back first crashing into the pillars, cracking upon impact or sending a row to fall like dominos.

Shiny Latias had fallen to the ground after hitting her back against one of the pillars. Latias sighed and levitated down to her, I guess this was it. I wasn't sure how she would handle her. I guess knocking her out would be best, and then capture her and Team Doom would soon follow. She would no doubt try to talk to her one last time, but after looking over at Shiny Latias, she was as good as defeated now… 'Hospital beds and relaxing at the beach… I'm coming to ya!' I thought loudly as I relished the pleasant thought of my wounds finally being treated, ice cream to heal up! And enjoying time at the beach underneath the beautiful hot sun, praise the sun!

"Zack isn't a terrible guy; he doesn't want to kill anyone." Latias said to her sister gently as she levitated beside her downed sister as she tried to sooth her wing from the Draco Meteor before. "You don't need to be alone anymore."

"W-what about me? After what I did to him, his friends, his m-mother, surely he'll kill me… I deserve it." She glumly sighed and turned her head away from Latias, burying her face within her paws, sobbing.

"Please, I want to help you. If you surrender, you'll live." Latias extended out her paw to her. Shiny Latias saw this as a tear formed at the corner of her eyes. "I don't want to lose the only sister I have left."

"But why do you want to help me? I'm far too gone from being helped. I'm a terrible Pokemon, I've done so much evil in this world… i-I can't ask you or anyone else for forgiveness, because I don't deserve it, I don't deserve anything good in my life." Her tears were finally released. With her eyes shut down tight, she covered her eyes with her paws and pleaded. "P-please… kill me, I'm just a m-monster… *sniff* I can't be helped. So please, end me…" This was an unusual sight to see. A minute ago she was all 'bwahahaha, die, die, die you good guys you.' to 'I'm sorry, don't hurt me. I'm a troubled Pokemon' something I didn't buy. Something was up; she had to be plotting something. If she were, then Latias could be very well be walking right into a trap. I had to regain my strength back and protect her at all costs. But unfortunately, my energy was too low for me to conjure up a move to help me out; I had to wait a little more before I could use something.

Shiny Latias slowly looked up at Latias with her paw extended out for helping her up, she took it with a smile… then the bitch with extreme speed to match her own sister grabbed Latias by the neck and pinned her against the pillar. Her claw pressed up against her neck and her other paw pressing against Latias' chest to prevent her moving. Seeing this, my initial response was to bolt for the bitch and attack with whatever energy I had left. But in my weakened state, I couldn't do anything; I was pretty much useless in this situation and was forced to watch as Latas, my friend was about to be killed by a crazed Latias. _'W-what would Zack say' _I thought. _'Would he say or shout why I couldn't save her? Would I still be his friend after?' _I shook my head, trying to push away those thoughts. _'N-no! Don't even think about that, what I need to do is to try and come up with something that'll save Latias. There's just gotta be a way!'_

"Do you know what I plan on doing to your lover Zack, dear sister?" She smirked as she crushed Latias' neck against the pillar with her paw. "There was a reason I chose him to turn into a Pokemon, a reason he became one of the Team Doom Eight, an ability to absorb the life energy of all Pokemon he defeats thus making him stronger. I want him to get stronger; I wanted him here so I can use him. You see, in his angered state, he loses control of himself and all of his power he has within himself is unleashed to whatever poor soul has angered him. That is where I come in, with my ability; I shall control him in his angered state making him kill all of my enemies and all who shall stand in my way. He'll be my right hand and this region will belong to me. Soon, my father's wish for a better world will become a reality."

"W-why him?" I gasped as I managed to crawl out from the destroyed pillar, escaping with all of my limbs secure and body badly cut. "Why d-did you target Zack? Y-you could've easily got s-someone else…"

"True, but I wanted to exact my revenge on him for taking my father's life and robbing me of my family." She growled, crushing Latias harder than before using whatever moves she had to keep Latias from fighting back. "So I decided to not only kill his mother, but I'll kill you, my dear sister. And when he sees what I have done, he'll lose control and then I can control him with my ability; making him see all of his friends, family and allies as his enemy. And after I have ruled this region, that is when I'll release him from my control and show him what he has done to his 'enemies' then I'll kill him in the most perfect way I know; a quick death, just like I did to his mother. Because I would rather see him dead than do it nice and slow, like I'll make him do to you." She laughed evilly.

"Wait! Don't do this!" I yelled, begging for Shiny Latias to stop and turn to me or get her to monologue granting me some extra time, but no. Shiny Latias raised her paw up readying her claws to stab Latias in her neck with her claws, an attack which would no doubt be a fatal one. I had to come up with something, to use a move to distract Shiny Latias, to get her to hurt me while Latias made her escape, but I was too weak to even move in the slightest. I had hardly any energy left to use a move, any move to stop Shiny Latias. I could try and taunt her, say something to her that would really anger her. But all Shiny Latias wants is to make Zackary suffer, to defeat him. Then without thinking, the words that would soon change everything we know it to a dark one, with friendships broken, friends dead, our team broken up all because I told her, I shouted. "She's pregnant!" Just as Shiny Latias' claw had touched Latias' neck ready to finish her off for good, she stopped. A small drop of blood had trickled down her neck. Shiny Latias with her eyes wide stared at her sister's face for what seemed like years had passed. Shiny Latias looked down at Latias' stomach, then back at her.

"Is that true?" She asked in a strange quiet tone as compared with her angry tone before, removing her claw slowly from Latias' neck. "Are you really pregnant?"

Latias slowly nodded. "A month almost." Shiny Latias glanced over at me… before looking back at Latias once more, only this time her eyes began to glow as her lips curved into a vicious smile and opened up as she revealed to her sister her sharp teeth.

"Interesting. I am not one for altering the plan... but this should suffice!"

And that was it. This was the beginning of the end of what we once had… and it was all my fault.

To be continued...

* * *

**Trivia:**

This chapter was originally supposed to colide with Zack fighting with his brother in a two part fight instead of separate chapters.


	40. Chapter 40 Final Battle

Chapter 40 - Final Battle

* * *

**Team Doom – Rooftop**

On the twelfth floor I saw the wreckage of a battle that had just finished up. Who battled, I didn't know. Perhaps it was Latias and another member of Team Doom or maybe Shiny Latias, perhaps both. I was worried for her and Espeon who I had not seen since before the battle I had with Ren.

I was finally here, Team Doom HQ where the final battle would take place, the last obstacle between me and Latias' promised future, a future with no more missions from the Savior's, no more life threatening tasks, no more 'Team' related bad guys to deal with, just a life of peace and relaxation, a life we had wanted. But first we had to deal with the final members of Team Doom to deal with; Cornelius and Shiny Latias. I had reached the top of the stairs to find myself at the rooftop of Team Doom's HQ, a large one hundred by one hundred meter circular platform that could be very well a helipad of some sort, with a smooth dry surface, a perfect battle stadium if it were a normal battle, and safety rails at the edge.

Next to the large circular platform was a smaller square area where I saw Latias and Shiny Latias engaging in combat with the other. I was about to run over there to help out, but I was stopped in my tracks as I heard the voice of Cornelius talking somewhere.

"Doom, what is doom?" Cornelius spoke, his voice booming loudly on the rooftops but I could not see him anywhere, but he was close, I could feel it. I walked around the roof hoping to find Cornelius wherever he was hiding. "Doom, what is Doom? Definition: The divine destruction, death or terrible fate of something and/or someone. But no… that isn't what Doom is. There is more to the word 'Doom' than meets the eye."

"Doom was created by Team Annihilation's leader and founder; Juro, as a back-up should Annihilation be destroyed, picked up again by those that survived the fall of Annihilation. We are not a team wanting to bring about the destruction and death of many innocent lives that roam and live their lives on this corrupt world. We seek to destroy the corrupted ones, the same ones that ignite war after war killing and slaughtering by the hundreds, by the thousands and by the millions. The same corrupted ones that hate others because they are 'different' than the other. The same corrupted ones that hurt and kill others because they were the closest living thing they could destroy."

"In our world we wish to create, we desire a world without the need of war, hatred or corruption. A world those afraid can someday soon enter the warm light of a brighter world without fear of the cold darkness from the old world."

From the side of the larger platform of the roof, I looked over at the sound of Latias and Shiny Latias' moves colliding with each other as they continued with their fight. I needed to hurry up and take care of Cornelius so I can help Latias. But I needed to know where he was first; hiding above the clouds, levitating off the side of the roof, I wouldn't know where to look. Then I remembered the grenade Professor Guard gave us; the life detection grenade/ by activating it, I could locate him and the fight would begin.

After detonating the grenade and throwing it upward, the grenade exploded and all life within the area became highlighted in colors to signify their life energy; Green is healthy, yellow is cautious, red is danger, and the life without any highlighted colors means they are dead. Latias and Shiny Latias were both in the yellow, I was in green, but Cornelius, he was Yellow. Cornelius with the help from the special grenade Professor Guard gave us to detect all life within the area, he appeared from the dark clouds above crossing his arms looking down at me as I grasped my scalchop firmly with both of my paws, "You are the 8th member of Doom; Zack Raines. Juro chose you as the final member of Doom to become the true savior of the world. Because once you become our enemy, we will fuck you up in the slowest ways we know how, slow and painful."

"True your ability is to absorb your fallen foes life energy making you stronger. But with the new strength and your anger that causes you to lose all control…" Cornelius smiled and pointed to his head with his claw. "All thanks to Juro, you will finally become the member Team Doom wanted; the one that will kill all corrupted and cruel beings thus creating the perfect world Annihilation envisioned." He rolled his body upward at the dark clouded sky, scratching his head too hard causing it to bleed. "But I should've been the leader of this pathetic unorganized group; I would've done things so much better than that foolish Latias!" He slowly turned his head, still scratching as the blood had stained his claws. "The only way to prevent corruption and all of the evil in the world is to end it. But how does one end corruption of the world and all of its evil things? Why you simply kill all life so none may ever be corrupted or evil ever again! All I had to do is to kill you, Shiny Latias, and all of your little friends and all armies and powerful Pokemon of the world… and then all corruption and evil things in this world will finally be gone, all except for me to live out my days finally happy knowing the next day in this world will be spent without worry or fear of what others may think of me or say of me. No more having to hear horrid words escape the mouths of the vile. I will truly be free from it all…" he chuckled in delight as saliva began to drool from his gaping mouth. "It is possible I could be alone, truly alone in this world within a matter of weeks."

"For too long I have lived in this world already seeing the vile nature of life; evil, corruption, hatred. It all started when I was but a wee child, a child with loving parents and a beautiful home filled my toys and a massive garden with so many possibilities for the imagination to come out to play; adventure, sci-fi, playful horror, a story of the hero versus the villain, fly in space battling alien life and saving the galaxy… but those thoughts, the playtime I had turned sour when the fights began, parents struggling, fighting, yelling and throwing things. Saying vile words to one another I had no understanding what they meant at the time, but somehow knew they were cruel things, things I believed where the start of the end of what I had." Cornelius lowered himself down toward the platform, but far too high for me to reach with my Razor Shell or get in range with any other of my moves. "My mother was having an affair with another man in another city. My father found out about this and beat the man up, went to jail and came home to argue with my mother. She left the hotel room, but she never got far. She was killed in a car accident. Things turned for me in a way; bullying at school, well actually I prevented it by stabbing one fool believing he and his 'buddies' could pick on me with a pencil right in his hand as he reached out to strangle me with it."

"People have told me that I was in the wrong for hurting the poor little boy, that he and his pals wanted to be friends. All lies you see, feeling sorry for the boy because of his upbringing being a bad one. People saw me as the problem child, and so my father sent me off, cast aside… and then the most marvellous thought came to mind; how would I be happy again? I was only ever happy alone, not within someone else's company, but alone. Isolation somewhere else? Perhaps, but over time I realized I could never achieve this, I would never be satisfied knowing the cruel kind, my father casting me aside and people like those boys who tried to attack me were still out there knowing one day I might meet people like them…" Cornelius smiled as tears streamed down his face. "My answer to my question had been answered upon my transformation of this new form, my new life, my power within; I must kill all life so I can happy again! Doesn't that sound wonderful?!"

Cornelius lowered himself down to my level and had begun to attack sobbing uncontrollably nonstop. His first move he used was a Giga Impact, charging immense power forming from his chest to his two paws as he charged right at me. He had his intentions on using that move, any move he used in the battle. He didn't care if the moves he used were high in power, only that if the moves he used were strong enough to push one back. And since we were on the rooftop with no rails or walls up on here, one little slip up and it's a long fall, and the next stop; the afterlife.

Jumping to the side, I evaded him by merely inches apart before he could land a direct hit, and so I stayed close to him ready to attack knowing that after a Giga Impact Cornelius would have to rest before he can do much after. As soon as his Giga Impact immediately ended, I ran up to him and used Psychic to attack.

Surprisingly, this did little to no damage. Not only that, but he broke free from it as soon as my Psychic took a hold of him and flew upward before quickly landing in the center of the rooftop.

"Do you not understand, boy! Shiny Latias plans to use you as a puppet for her own goals, perhaps she'll make you kill everyone you care for first before she makes you kill her enemies. With all of that power you have!" Cornelius shouted, his voice echoing the rooftops high above the roaring thunder, a storm slowly approaching. "A tragic loss on your end. Friends dying, family lost! Don't you see? I am saving all of you from a tragic future you'll eventually reach if I allow life in this world to continue! Please let me kill all!" Cornelius placed both of his paws on his face, scratching his cheeks digging his claws into them, bleeding as his sobbing grew louder.

So I went for it, I ran at him and used Razor Shell, slashing and stabbing at him to inflict as much damage as I could. But this couldn't last forever. He would stop and continue to fight once more. So he flew up high above the edge of the circular platform, his maw glowing a fiery dark blue and shooting it downward towards the roof; he was using Dragon Breath. I was hit by this attack, burning my left arm just below my elbow.

Cornelius flew around the rooftop readying to charge up another move. Either Dragon Breath again or a Giga Impact, perhaps a new move this time, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I used Water Pulse as a small orb of water formed in front of my chest and threw it at Cornelius as he flew, but it missed as he was flying way too fast. I didn't stop at there, I reused Water Pulse at him as he flew, hoping that either one of my moves could land a hit.

Cornelius stopped and turned and charged right at me again, but instead of Giga Impact to attack this time, he used Dragon Claw swiping it at me across my chest, I was too late to evade it or block it. Kneeling down wincing in pain form the attack, he stopped and in between sobs laughed to himself. Quickly, I stood up and jumped at his tail and grabbed it, grabbing my scalchop with my paw and about to use Razor Shell to stab him with it, but Cornelius was quicker. He flew up high above the clouds at high speeds, performing loops and aerial maneuvre in his attempt for me to lose my grip and fall back down to either the roof, or towards my death… depending on where or how high I fall first.

His scales provided me enough grip to hang on while he performed his aerial tricks long enough for me to climb up on his back and to at least stab him a few times with my Razor Shell. There were multiple chances when Cornelius when he had finally lowered back down to the rooftop for me to let go and try something else, my feet back on solid ground than having to risk in the air grabbing onto thin scales so high up with one false move or awkward angle and I would plummeting back down to earth. But no, I decided to stay and fight him, hoping my attacks one after the other would be the final blow to end the fight. Then with one sudden quick flick of his long tail, I felt my paw loosen its grip off of his scales and I was falling down to either the roof or the bottom level, I didn't know which.

As I was falling, my mind went blank, no screaming, no thoughts or anything, it was just I was now in a state of surprise, I didn't know what to do or what to say. Then out of nowhere I hit something solid with a loud bang. Cornelius covered his wounds on his back as he levitated in place where he was, thirty meters up, and I fell from that high and survived… not sure if it had something to do with this Doom Serum flowing through my veins or something must've cushioned my blow, but I was alive, and that I could be thankful of… and as well as my ribs still holding up feeling as if I had broken at least some of my bones… yep, defiantly felt like I had fractured at least several of them. I didn't know how I could keep going; ribs sore, ears aching, eyes blurry, and my left middle finger felt like it was about to break, or it had dislocated and popped right back into my socket every time I had moved it. I felt like I had been run over by a truck, but I kept going, for Latias and everyone I fought for.

Cornelius landed on the roof, but to my surprise he didn't charge up another attack or fly back up circling me; he just stayed there for a moment, still and quiet, not sobbing like before or gasping for air, exhausted like I was. Then slowly, he fell back with a loud thud, cackling as he flailed his arms about. "Ugh… y-you got me there, boy. Well done Dewott, Well done!"

"Y-you have gained so much power within these past many months of you becoming a Dewott, training and overcoming obstacles. Congratulations, you have bested me in combat… now you know what must come next; your ability will absorb my life energy, thus killing me making you stronger… " He sighed, feeling himself lose conscious the more he continued, but chose to do so. "Shiny Latias will use you as her puppet, a monster controlled by a fool who would use said monster to rule over all, creating an even worse world than before… such a waste..."

"What do you mean?" I asked as I reactivated my Razor Shell once more, demanding answers. "Why does Shiny Latias want me? Answer me!"

"She has an ability to control you or anyone she wishes. She has a way to do so… a-and I was caught by it ever since I first met her…" He chuckled lightly, coughing in between each word. "She knew of my plan to overthrow her from the very start, but she caught me… I… I could've won, but she prevented me from killing her or causing her any harm. Her ability is to control all those she has hold of. I don't know what or how she does it, but let me tell you now… it is powerful. Be grateful you managed to get this far, boy. But perhaps it is best if you get as far away from her before she can control you…" He coughed, his eyes closing, resting his head on the roof's flat surface readying for the end. "If you truly value your loved ones… then don't let her control you…" His voice quickly fell silent and his body lay still, he was unconscious, defeated by my hands and with it my ability would kill him making me stronger by absorbing his life energy.

With Cornelius taken care of there was just one left I had to deal with; Shiny Latias, still levitating above Latias. She slowly turned her head at me and levitated away from her and over to the larger rooftop, twenty meters apart.

"You!" I growled angrily as I stood there grasping my scalchop, preparing myself to charge right at her and cut her down. Latias was… she was lying on the ground, unmoving. I feared for the worst as to why she on the ground. I felt my anger rise, the voices slowly coming back alive all telling me with so many voices to attack, but I wouldn't let them control me this time. Ever since I started to hear these voices in the past, I had always listened to them and let them control me, but not this time. Seeing Latias like that scared me, but I wasn't going to allow those voices to creep up on me again, taking control of me like I was some puppet. I was in control of my body and no one else. I wasn't going to kill her, to render her unconscious letting my ability to absorb her life energy that would be the easy way out for her. No, I would make sure she would answer for her awful things she has done to me and many others. "Team Doom is finished with, you're finished. So just give up. Don't throw away your life like this!"

She chuckled as she shook her head from side to side. "Oh Zack, Team Doom isn't finished with. There are still other surviving members left alive who I should say are all cowards who lacked the true heart to grasp and understanding on what Team Doom is about. And then there is you, the final member of Team Doom, the one member who shall help us reach our desired goal. You must help us make way for a new world for us to rebuild, even if it does mean you'll have to tread on the many corpses of your allies to do so."

"You're wrong if you believe I'll help you. You team is done for, and so are you!"

"Oh, but Zack you will. All you have to do, is look at me." She smiled, levitating slowly towards me with her paw raised as if about to use a Dragon Claw. My initial reaction on seeing Shiny Latias come at me about to use a move was to attack. The battle with her had begun. I had activated my Razor Shell and ran at her not knowing how this battle would end. I know what she had to me, taking away my mom from me, from everyone who loved her. Suddenly, she stopped and lowered her paws to the side of her, watching with a widening smile the more I closed in the distance between us. Then her eyes began to glow the closer I had got, all the time I had looked into her eyes.

"Do not attack me!" She commanded as she continued to stare at me with those glowing amber eyes. I began to slow down, stopping merely inches before I could even get in range for me to strike. I lowered my scalchop and deactivated my Razor Shell, placing the scalchop back onto my fur. I shrugged it off, trying over and over again to attack her with my moves, using whatever I could to land a hit, but no matter what moves I used or what I did, all either failed to be used or missed, as if I had intentionally directed each move to not hit her, like she had some kind of barrier around her preventing me from hurting her. "Do not attack. Stand still." So I did. Something was wrong, my body refused to move.

"Now Zack Raines, now that I have total control of you, I can make you do whatever I want." She leaned in whispering that last part into my ear. I couldn't move, I couldn't conjure up a move to attack her or grab a piece of debris to hit her, I was trapped. I tied to look for Espeon, but I couldn't see her anywhere. My friends, they were still on the eleventh floor, perhaps on their way right now; on the twelfth floor, climbing up the long stairs towards the roof? Where were they when I needed them most? And Latias… she was on the ground lying on her belly with her eyes closed. From where I was, I couldn't tell it she was still alive or just unconscious. Shiny Latias pulled away but kept her eyes on me, still glowing, still keeping me in her control. "Do you want to know how I am doing it? You and I… are eyes met, I can control whoever I want if they look me in the eye, then they are mine to do as I wish." She laughed, flicking my nose with one of her sharp claws.

"Now let's start with an easy command for you. Have you yet mastered entry into the Dark Place like most Psychics have? Accessing the mind, training with your Psychic type moves?"

"Y-y-yes!" I answered her with so much resistance in my voice that I think at some point when I was responding to her, her eyes narrowed even more. Despite my resistance over her control over me, her ability was too powerful for me to break free from it. I had no control over what I said or did. She had me at her mercy; a command to do this or that, reveal to her the secrets of the Savior's' spies hidden within Team Doom, backup soldier locations, anything she wanted I could give it to her if her ability was powerful enough, which I was sure was. She could make me do anything… Latias… I could feel my heart beating fast _'No, I don't want to hurt her… please don't make me do it…!'_

"If that loudmouthed Espeon were here, I would see to it personally that I would hurt her first before I took on the likes of you. But I guess I'll have to deal with her later then after I have broken you. So I want you to do something for me…" Shiny Latias eyes glowed more as her smile turned vicious. "Enter the Dark Place for me and listen for my voice to tell you what I want you to do. You can do that, can you?" Without control of my body, I say down closing my eyes and concentrated hard to enter the Dark Place, and I did. I thought I could do something in here, retake control over my body again and defeat her. But like with on the outside I couldn't do much here and was forced into having to watch what she would do with me. Whatever it was, I knew it wouldn't be good, but I couldn't give up, I had to fight this, but how?

"Good. Now comes the fun part. The moment I Shiny Latias will finally build my father's world, and it's all thanks to you, Zack Raines. You who had left your home town in search of me after I killed your pathetic mother, your friends, your leader, and soon Latias, who I know you love dearly. You have gotten so strong ever since we last saw one another. But now is the time you use that power to help me." I heard her voice echo all around me in the dark. Her ability was still in control over me in here. "Now what I want you to do now… is for you to stand while you are in that state!"

It was something all Psychic types should never do while in the Dark Place, a state in which a Psychic type enters their own mind, to become stronger with their Psychic type moves, access their memories the one you remember the most, the blurry memories, and the memories once thought lost. You should never stand whilst in this state. The power of Shiny Latias' ability to control anyone who ever looked into her eyes, I couldn't break free of her control.

I felt my legs move; both of my feet touched the ground. 'No! D-don't!' Was all I could shout in my mind, trying with all I could to stop this from happening… My life, memories that I cherished so dearly, my friends, parents and Latias… I didn't want to forget them… but it useless. Shiny Latias had complete control over me. And with one final push upwards, I was now standing whilst in the Dark Place.

I didn't know what to expect; something like an explosion, everything disappearing around me, fading into nothing. What I felt was… it was like falling asleep. No more feeling, no more sound, nothing but the darkness around me, engulfing my entire body. Thought's, memories, friends, family, who I was… everything about her… about Latias... all became lost in darkness.

To be continued in... Pokemon Dreams 04 - Aqua

* * *

**Trivia:**

This chapter originally ended with Zack's friends asking the others as to where Zack was, but i didn't want the fate of his friends to be revealed in this story.

**AN: And there you have it; 03 has come to a close. Thanks for everyone who requested for me to write their oc characters in the story, I had a lot of fun working on them. I have three requests sent to me for their characters to be put in, but in the next story, I believe there characters would work well for the new setting. Thanks for reading and I hoped you all enjoyed the story.**

**As for the side stories i have planned; a collection of one offs or stiff that kinda happened to the side of the main story, just filler stories and not relevant to the mains story, just optional reading. All with be released all on the same week as the other, they'll have to be uploaded sometime next week or the week after.**

**Happy xmas or whatever you chose to celebrate, so have a happy day then. Take it easy guys. Until next time.**


	41. Side Story 01 – Training Doom

**AN: Side stories are a set of 5 short stories that happen before, during, or after the main story based around either the main characters or characters that were cut from the main story. Or just stories I made up for fun and not considered cannon to the main story. Enjoy!**

Side Story 01/05 – Training Doom

* * *

****

**Team Doom HQ – Training Grounds**

In the early morning of a new day in Team Doom's HQ stood one hundred and seven new recruits chosen to become soldier's for Shiny Latias' army in front of a platform all looking up at their new boss staring down at them ready to train them. One hundred human soldiers, and seven standing to the side together were Pokemon, Pokemon who were once human were members of the Team Doom Eight, a group of selected people connected with Team Annihilation in some way to become Pokemon with altered colors and different move sets than the original form all for their life energy and strength to be absorbed by the eighth member known as; Zack Raines so Shiny Latias when he was strong enough and to control him as a weapon to take over the region if not the world.

Normally, Shiny Latias would let another instructor watch over the new recruits as they were trained, but today was special. Today was the day her special team; members of the Team Doom Eight were all together for their first training session to test out each of their abilities preparing them for their fate; to face Zack Raines and be killed by him making him stronger. It wasn't training for her new one hundred soldiers; it was for members of the Team Doom Eight to test their new abilities against them. "Welcome all to Team Doom HQ to be trained to become members of my army." She announced with a rare bright smile that showed delight instead of her usual vicious smile that showed often malice. She knew her new soldiers would take time to become stronger, faster, to gain as much power as they could, all for Zack to absorb, with her plan underway, she smiled knowingly that soon all of Unova would be under her control.

"Today on this day you will all begin your path to become proud members of my growing army, all strong, all fast, all ready for your foes showing no fear neither refusal to give in despite the odds. You are all but weak children starting anew in this world, but in time you will become stronger, proud soldiers of our growing family that is Team Doom." Her smile grew as she turned to her Team Doom Eight all standing together watching her speech bored out of their minds, none wanting to be there. Some with bodies still aching badly after their transformation from human to Pokemon, some not wanting to train with other members, and a small few wanting to train in isolation in their own way on becoming strong.

Seven members all with unique abilities; Cornelius a purple Rayquaza with the ability to cause their foes to let their emotions affect them during battle, mostly sadness, Nathaniel a red Pidgeot who can survive in extreme temperatures and create enormous flames. Ren a gray Dewott with the ability to sense all danger within the area only if he were outside and not indoors, Rose a green Ninetales that can poison her foes and force them to fight until they are either defeated or they defeat her, Jessica a white Mew with the ability to create a nightmare world for her victims, a nightmare world that can force said victim to commit suicide after what they see, things that can either upset them or frighten living in a world they do not want, Martha a black Charizard that can easily freeze any foe of any type regardless of type efficacy, and then there is Harry a yellow Regirock who can easily inflict paralysis on all foes he battles. These abilities still new and fresh all had to be controlled by the user, as well as to get stronger with their moves and learn new ones for future battles.

The seven were assigned to ten soldier's each to train on while the remaining thirty were sat in the corner under guard, watching and waiting for one of the ten soldiers of any team to become useless in the training session, a session neither one were looking forward to. It was a long wait, but they did it anyway without running away or fighting back, Shiny Latias saw to it that none of them refused to train, to fight back, or even protest. She didn't care if they didn't want to be there or not, no matter what it took she had to train her soldiers.

Nathaniel was the first to use his ability; an uncontrollable wildfire at first burning seven out of the ten soldiers granted to him for training burnt to a crisp within seconds, but then steadily became somewhat controllable as time passed and the charred corpses piling up. It was an ability Shiny Latias at first had concerns about not wanting her new base to be burnt down before they could get started. But her concerns faded the more she watched their powers grow.

Cornelius became the second member to use his ability, watching the soldiers attack with all sobbing loudly at things that upset them or what they believed today was the worst day possible, a distraction that allowed Cornelius to slam them down one at a time with his gigantic tail using his new moves with glee.

Ren was tasked in using a pacific number of moves as fast as he could per minute on the ten soldiers. At first it was twenty moves per minute on whatever solider he felt like without missing, he completed the first one in one go with thirty seconds to spare. The next was thirty moves. Followed by forty moves, then fifty, and finally sixty all to test to see if he could go any faster to break his record; sixty moves within a minute with ten seconds left to spare.

Harry was fourth to learn his ability; an ability to paralyze all foes within range. Soldiers assigned to Harry attacked with all of their might, inflicting damage most would feel and be affected by, but not Harry. Harry was born without feeling in his body not knowing what touch felt like, or any kind of pain. So to him, the soldiers could throw all they liked at him while he stood there enduring something he could not feel, and learning of his enemies; they way they fought, their tactics used/ Harry after some time had passed would counter these moves and paralyze each one followed by a heavy attack a fist slammed down on the soldiers head cracking it upon impact. To them, they were fighting a giant boulder, to Harry, he was having fun.

Martha surprisingly learnt her ability fifth out of the seven members of Team Doom. She was a peaceful woman, a teacher who had loved her students whilst working at Team Annihilation's base before it was shut down for good. At first, Martha believed the armor the soldiers were wearing were suitable for whatever ability or moves she would use against them. Go all out and they would all be fine by the time training had ended. But her ability an ability which would freeze all and any types no matter the type had frozen solid. Three soldiers trapped within her freeze ability had shattered into millions of shards all on the floor when Martha used her moves to attack them to get used to her new moves, not realizing at first that the soldiers she had attacked once frozen were dead the moment her moves touched the ice surrounding them.

Rose's ability would poison anyone within area until either she was rendered unconscious or the victim(s) had fallen to the affects of poison, killing them, sometimes killing all of the soldiers she was assigned with most of the time. Rose focused on learning moves that'll affect her foes, status affects and moves to push her foes back should they get too close to attack her. her training like the others lasted for hours; she poisoning the soldiers and fighting them off mastering her moves as fast as possible not wanting to fail her boss, or to be seen by others as slow and useless to Team Doom. As the hours passed, Rose had always used her ability every time the soldiers got too close to her, all the time she tried over and over again; she could never find a way to shut off her ability, in battle or not, she could never get to close to anyone she wanted, not even her boyfriend Ren.

Jessica the white Mew was the last to use her ability and the only member within the training room not to have used the ability more than once, something which had angered Shiny Latias to the point she almost at top speed approached her and controlled her using her own ability to use Jessica's ability over and over again on the human soldiers until she was used to it. But Shiny Latias calmed herself down and told herself _'She is new to this, all I have to do is give her some time, but not too much time and she will catch up.' _Throughout the day, Jessica could only muster one successful activation of her ability to the first ten soldiers she was granted to train on. The first time she used it against the ten soldiers, everyone including the other Pokemon members of Team Doom were drawn to Jessica as the horrifying shrieking and cries from the soldiers echoing loudly throughout the room had almost halted everything. The soldiers were experiencing visions, seeing and hearing things that were not there, things that would convince whoever were caught in Jessica's ability to commit suicide. Jessica was terrified at what she saw; horrified that she could do such things. She refused at first to take part in the training anymore. But she was ordered over and over again to continue using her ability otherwise she would receive punishment from Shiny Latias.

Throughout the day, Shiny Latias watched as her soldiers one-by-one all used their new abilities on the other soldiers, from the struggled usage of their abilities from a small few to getting the hang of things from most of them. She was happy, happy that her soldiers were growing, and soon they would become the soldiers she needed them to be.

"Congratulations on your first day, my soldiers. But today was only a small fraction on what you can all become. You will all train to become stronger than what you were at the start and your moves and abilities will become stronger, and the new world, the promised world will soon be ours." Shiny Latias gave one last smile at her soldiers before turning away from them, levitating away from the exhausted Pokemon, above the fallen human soldiers most dead while the rest either worn out or injured, Shiny Latias levitated out towards the exit of the training room with a pleased smile she whispered. "Tomorrow the training will become intense. I'll have to work them as hard as I can for them to be ready to face off against Zack Raines when it is time for him to become the final member of the Team Doom Eight. He will grow strong, he will kill the other members of the Team Doom Eight, absorb their power to become his own, and then I shall control him to be my slave, my personal weapon to destroy any army who stands in my way in order to take control of this region and reshape it in Juro's image… but the question is; how will I make him come after us?" She asked herself as she neared the doorway of the training room, glancing back over at her soldiers still resting on the floor. "I could get one of them to attack him… hmm, he probably won't come after us if it was just a random attack. Perhaps if one of his friends or family members were injured, then maybe he-" Suddenly her eyes widened at a thought "He killed my father… so maybe I shall kill his mother? Or maybe my sister should be the best one to kill. Choices, choices… whichever one shall I ever pick?" She chuckled as she left the training room, leaving behind her soldiers, and the human soldiers.

As for the remaining soldiers to survive the training session; should they be injured or not, the next day they would be included in another training session to be used to help train the Team Doom Eight to become stronger. Not all human soldiers went through this, only a select handful of the thousands Shiny Latias has at her disposal. The human soldiers weren't mercenaries, neither one were ex members of Team Annihilation, they were all random civilians she had captured throughout the region all to be used as her soldiers or to be used for training.

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

Shiny Latias wasn't the leader of Doom in the draft for 03 or even a member, She was more of a behind the scenes villain watching and waiting for Zack and Latias ready to strike when the time was right.


	42. Side Story 02 – Daily Life of Espeon

Side Story 02/05 – Daily Life of Espeon Before Team Doom

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town**

It was a beautiful day in Nuvema Town, the blue cloudless sky with the sun shining brightly down on the town, the perfect weather for a great day. Especially for a certain Pokemon who goes by the name of her species; Espeon who lives with her trainer now a white Dewott after being attacked by a Shiny Latias who had injected Zack with a serum known as the Doom serum.

It had been over a month since the change and with it new things; Zack learning how to use moves of his own Espeon, Totodile and Dewott had helped him learn for about two weeks on what they knew, and Espeon finally remembering how much she loved to stay at home to rest up after months of travelling through different regions all on various missions; escorts, deliveries, assisting a town or people with their problems they need help with such as bandits or a troubled Pokemon here and there running amok.

Espeon was lying on her back on the grass in the back yard of Zack's home looking up at the blue sky taking in the suns radiant light feeling at ease with how things have been recently; the attack by Shiny Latias, her trainer/best friends sudden change from human to Pokemon, not being on a mission this time and just… relaxing. "Hmm… haven't seen a single cloud up there yet, so I guess cloud watching is out of the option for me then." She sighed, shifting her eyes over at a plane passing by. "I wonder where that plane is flying towards? This region over in Mistralton City airport? Another region… maybe towards Sinnoh if I am facing the right way. Hundreds of people up there all travelling here and there for many reasons; a vacation, honeymoon, business trips, a chance for a new start… why the heck am I talking about planes like that for? And also, why am I talking to myself?" Espeon chuckled to herself as she continued to watch the plane fly by in silence until it flew out of view. Now she all she had to look up at was the blue sky.

Espeon walked back into the house to see Zack's mom Ayaka sitting on the couch watching a crime show. Espeon had often seen her watch that show most days and sometimes joined her not knowing who the characters were or what was going on, but she would have fun in trying to guess the criminal, the mastermind behind today's episode. Espeon sat at the corner of the couch and watched the show with Ayaka, but today's episode of the crime show was the second and last part of a continuing story arc which involved a murder case in two separate cities close to another. They dubbed the killer 'The Face Stealer' for leaving their victims dead in hotel rooms with their faces cut off. The show never revealed dead bodies or anything too gory in the show since after all it was shown in the daytime close to a kids channel for all cartoons and kids movies.

Espeon sat back on the couch and imagined herself out of the living room and being warped to another place far from here. She imagined being in a black and white room sat at a desk wearing a black fedora whilst leaning her head on top of the desk in a deep sleep exhausted over a crime she couldn't quite solve. She had been solving a hard to crack case for a week now, the killer who would leave his victims dead behind a butcher's all with their left hands cut off with no trace of the hand anywhere else. One night, Espeon woke to a knock at her office door. Opening the door, a man wearing a black suit and tie entered another detective and partner who went by the name of Gillian. A man in Espeon's daydream who didn't resemble anyone she knew or had seen before, a man with a cleft chin, small nose, and sunken back gray eyes with short black hair cut approached her desk and told her with an inaudible voice to go to the back alley to investigate the scene of what appears to be the killers latest crime.

The scene suddenly changed to a dark back alley behind a butcher's. A lone street light shined down over a body covered by a white sheet. The body underneath like the other victims all had but one hand removed. Cut off by a murderer with unknown reasons as to why they were doing this. A murderer the media had dubbed 'The Hand Stealer' a murderer for some unexplained reason within the daydream had Espeon up late nights and wanting justice for the victims lives this murderer had taken, all to steal their hands.

Walking up to the body, a cop walked beside her to uncover the sheets. "It appears to be a dead body underneath the blanket." Muttered a cop standing beside Espeon with an unenthusiastic tone of voice to it.

"Ya think?" Espeon replied sarcastically as she levitated the sheet up from the man's face to reveal…

Suddenly, Espeon's daydreaming was destroyed by the familiar sound of loud music she had heard so many times before. Music that started off all fanfare like and rock and roll before a mal announcer yelled out followed by the laughter of so many children 'Super Latias!'She was back in the living room and saw that the crime show had already ended and the TV was now onto the kids channel showing Super Latias, one of Latias' favorite TV shows of all time. Sitting next to her wasn't Ayaka anymore, but it was Latias with the remote held up by her paw close to her chest as she sat and watched the show with a big smile on her face. "Do you like ever watch anything else other than this show, Latias?" She asked Latias, her eyes not turning away from the screen as she shook her head, a wide grin at the moment her favorite character 'Super Latias' appeared on screen to quote her starting catchphrase for every show/movie/video game 'When there is crime, Super Latias is here to save the day!' something which Espeon rolled her eyes at. She didn't hate the show, she often found it amusing at times with a few good action scenes and emotional moments here and there, but watching it constantly draw her mad; the music, the catchphrase Super Latias said almost every episode, she just wanted to watch something different for a change. She could wait for the show to be over and then the remote would be back in her paws to flick over the hundreds of channels in search of good television… but Super Latias shows were thirty minutes too long for her to sit through, so she just got up and left the room to explore the house for a change. She couldn't remember where she was going with her daydream, a killer who had cut off the left hand of their victims behind a butcher's in the back alley. "Hmm, maybe if I finally finished up where I was going with that, I probably could've sold my idea to a network and be famous… oh well."

Espeon's first place to explore was Ayaka's room, a room Espeon only had been in once the first time she entered Zack's house to meet his mom and sister Yuri. Inside the room weren't exactly much inside other and a double size bed and a wardrobe. She walked up to it and opened it with help from her Psychic, slowly opening it to see it full of not only clothing hung up, but old notes, books, and trinkets from long ago stacked inside a box at the bottom. Espeon using her Psychic held up and opened up one of the books to the front page; it was a diary from when Ayaka was a teen.

"'This book belongs to Ayaka Amano, HANDS OFF.'" She read from it whispering to keep her voice down should either, Ayaka, Yuri or Zack find her inside rummaging inside of other people's stuff that don't belong to her. Espeon placed the book over to one side and reading through some of the many notes all stacked together, reading what they were "Recipes, gardening tips, Christmas gift checklists from previous years, to do lists from a few weeks ago… hmm, so it has come down to this, exploring the house and intruding on people's private belongings... "

Espeon left the room to move on to Zack's sister Yuri. In a few months time she would be leaving Unova to go off to join an art academy. At first, Espeon didn't really think much of Yuri, but when Yuri painted a canvas of Espeon sleeping, she was instantly in love with her for how marvellous she looked and requested for her to paint more of Espeon doing things. In her file, she showed the academy her paintings of Espeon among her other pieces of work, and they accepted her in amazed at the detail and depth put into each work of art, especially works involving Espeon.

Yuri wasn't in the house at the time Espeon walked in to her room to look around, snooping in on Yuri's stuff. But Espeon didn't care, about things that weren't Yuri's art that is. There were several canvases in the room, most with unfinished paintings or various fruits and trees outside. Works she would be showing to the people at the academy no doubt. Espeon loved her art, even going as far as treating Yuri as some kind of celebrity she admired. "She has talent." She smiled as she looked at the unfinished paintings, excited at what the finished painting may look like. "Hmm, I wonder what she'll do with it I wonder. A famous painter? Comic books? Who knows…"

And finally the last room of the house she decided to visit was that of her own trainer and best friend Zack, sitting on his bed and reading from a book Espeon immediately saw as she entered the room as a book about Pokemon moves, a book she had taken a few glances at and was surprised to read about how well and detailed how each move was used, how training is required before use and how it could be improved upon making it stronger. Espeon had taught Zack all she knew about Psychic type moves, and was happy to see Zack still learning even after training. "Hey Zackary, reading from that book again I see."

Zack looked up from his book to see Espeon enter his room, smiling he greeted her, closing the book and placing it to one side. "Just going over a few things I was confused about; like Protect. In the book it doesn't explain how long I can use it for, only that I can make it stronger by training with it."

"Well, Protect doesn't last long despite if you are attacked physically or not. Usually lasts around I'd say… ten seconds. That's how long I can use it until someone tries to attack me until it shatters upon impact. The book is right about training will make your protect stronger, meaning your Protect will grow bigger allowing you to either protect yourself from further distances or protect someone or something close by." Espeon explain, grabbing the book with her Psychic and flicking through the pages before returning it to Zack to place it back on his bed.

"Zackary, do you mind if I use your computer? I'm feeling kinda bored at the moment just waiting around for Latias to finish up on watching her Super Latias show." Zack smiled and nodded before jumping off his bed to leave his room to go downstairs. "Sure, I don't mind."

With that, Espeon happily jumped up on the chair in front of the desk with the computer on top, using her Psychic to move the mouse to browse the internet for anything to kill her boredom which was slowly creeping on her. She had browsed for what seemed like hours of searching for something, anything that would make her laugh; to find something that'll gain her interests, but sadly she couldn't and was just clicking on many web sites and different videos of things she had already watched before.

Espeon eventually found a forums page about the Super Latias show; theories, favorite moments shared by the fans, ask me anything's from the show makers, even by the Latias who plays Super Latias on a few occasions. Espeon noticed that there were two thousand people already online and there was a section where she could create a post on just about anything she wanted asked by the people online, things like 'Why do you like this show?' 'What is so special about the show and should I watch it?' Then a smile had crept up on her. Quickly, she clicked on the box and began to type with her Psychic 'Super Latias is overrated, come at me!' Espeon finished typing with a sinister grin as she moved the pointer to click onto 'send' to post for the entire world to see. She wanted to spark a reaction, to have fun and read the comments left behind by others already logged on.

Within a matter of minutes, she got responses by at first three people, five, then ten, a hundred, two hundreds of responses almost nearing the thousand mark. But the thing is, only several people actually responded to Espeon by raging how 'Super Latias is the best show eva, so dont you say 'come at me!' like you all knowing!' so instead of seeing a comment war about her comment, the comments were then followed by comments that weren't even about her comment and instead yelling at other comments about how this episode was better than that episode over and over again:

Pikafan82 'Episode 489 was THE best epsiodde yut! So stfu anon 01!'

FatManDynasty 'y don't u 'stfu' episode 200 was the best!'

anon 18 'episode 211 prooved my theory that Super Latias has a split personality!'

anon 12 'OMG Spoilers much anon!'

MegaDiaz 'OMG don't use ! after a comment, its soooooo stupid'

anon 03 'Like your comment 'MegaDiaz''

anon 15 'Learn to spell 'anon 18' it's proved, not 'prooved' you stupid ****'

Jamjar484 'lol'

iampickles 'Check out these amazing deals by clicking on the link here: amazingdeals4u. Totally not a virus!'

Espeon decided that was enough internet for one day and walked out of the room. Instead of seeing the raging fans commenting on her comment, they all just focused on something else not relevant to what had been posted. So she walked back down stairs again to see Latias still watching her Super Latias TV show with a happy smile on her face. Unfortunately it was still the first episode out of four showing today, so Espeon would be waiting a while before the TV was hers again, so she decided to go back out and watch the sky but not before stealing a bag of chips from the kitchen table.

As she lied down on the grass, to her delight she saw small clouds for the first time that day. With a relaxed sigh, she popped open the bag of ships and ate as she watched the clouds form up into larger ones so she could begin her favorite pastime; cloud watching. With the current events with Zack being a Pokemon and hearing all about how he was thinking about leaving the Saviors for a better start; Espeon wondered what life would be like without the Saviors, without missions. "I wonder if I'll be having more days like this one; cloud watching, starting humorous arguments on websites over a stupid post, eating bags of chips. It may sound boring not being with the Savior's anymore, but at least we can all go out for some fun times elsewhere; amusement parks, hiking in the woods, just living it up away from it all… I guess it sounds fun."

Espeon looking up at the clouds started to imagine herself and her friends going places such as amusement parks, hiking out in the middle of the woods, eating ice cream outside an ice cream parlor or some other relaxing fun activity.

"I guess if we did that all too often, then I would become fat… a fat and lazy Espeon… hmm, then this is the start of a regular day of Espeon. Hah, I referenced the title of the side story…. And once again I am talking to myself, *sighs* somebody stop me… I really hope my life isn't this boring after leaving The Savior's, I really don't want to be this bored ever again."

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

The daydream section of Espeon trying to solve the case of 'The Hand Stealer' was added at the last minute and instead focused on her and Ayaka watching the crime show.


	43. Side Story 03 – Expected Mother

Side Story 03/05 – Expected Mother

* * *

**Icirrus City – Pokemon Center**

The afternoon inside the Pokemon center of Icirrus City would be a busy time for passing trainers travelling to and from gyms, travelling the region to protect their trainers Pokemon would end up here for the night to be treated before heading back out with their trainers next destination. Inside the main area of the Pokemon center lying down on the bed at the far end of the room beside the large windows was Latias affectionately rubbing her stomach because as of a few hours prior she had discovered she was pregnant and Zack was the father. For the longest time she remained silent, refusing to find a remote to stitch the centers TV on to watch her favorite show Super Latias that would be on by now. New episodes Latias was dying to see for some time now, but today, she was excited she would soon be a mother. "A mother. Me, about to have children with Zack…" She chuckled at the thought. She began to wonder what her children may look like; a Latias like herself, a Latios maybe. Or maybe even an Oshawott, perhaps both. The nurse didn't tell her how many she was expecting, all she knew that she would be a mother within two months time. The egg would take two weeks to hatch, a long process of keeping warm but a worthwhile wait to look into the eyes of their child.

'_Now what would I call it if it's a Latios of if it is a male Oshawott? But what about if it is a Latias or a female Oshawott?' _She thought as she continued to rub her belly affectionately, thinking about what she and Zack would name their baby. _'If it's a Latios; my suggestions would be… huh, I can't think of anything good. Maybe I could leave it to Zack to name the child. Or perhaps I'll find the best name for the child when I look into its eyes for the first time, then I'll most likely come up with the perfect name… I hope.'_

'_B-but what if it doesn't like me, it'll just keep crying nonstop whenever I am near it? Or if I hurt it… Oh gosh no…'_ Her excitement on becoming a mother quickly turned into fear; fear that she would be a terrible mother. She didn't know who her own biological mother was. She only had Zack's mom Ayaka there with her. A woman Latias had over the years saw her as her mother, raising her as if she were her daughter, teaching her from right and wrong, being there for her when things were tough, and she in return. _'I hope I can be a great mother like Ayaka. She was so kind to me…'_ Thoughts of Ayaka played in her mind.

Thoughts from long ago of the times Ayaka played with her every one in a while, she even helped Ayaka by baking a birthday cake ready for Zack's tenth birthday. Then the day after Ayaka was killed by her own sister, Shiny Latias, like with Zack she felt like she had just lost a part of her. A lot of stuff had happened and they had to leave town before she could say goodbye to her or mourn properly, only thinking about the next step in the search for her sister to put an end to her reign of tyranny and evil. _'I hope things will be back to normal with us after Team Doom and my sister have been dealt with. I don't want us to be still fighting when the baby arrives or after. I want the baby to grow up with both of its parents still alive, not growing up without its parents, like I was before Zack took me in when I was still young.'_

Latias had little to no memory of her younger years before she met Zack. Only flashes and images of a white room with men in lab coats examining either her or something else, the memory was always blurry and she couldn't quite make it out, despite having tried numerous times to gain access to those younger years through The Dark Place, a state in which all Psychic types can use to access their minds, use it to train with their Psychic moves making them stronger and also to recall past memories from moments passed, weeks, months or even years. Memories thought once forgotten about could be reclaimed by focusing as many days as it could to find what you were looking for. But years had passed and still Latias hadn't recovered anything about her youth prior to meeting Zack. The memory of meeting Zack as a young Latias was always the strongest memory, the one that shined the brightest within The Dark Place.

She had wanted to know what her childhood was like before meeting Zack, maybe even catch a glimpse of her own true mother. But despite the countless times of endless search, she could never remember her face, her voice, nothing to remember her by. The records left behind by Team Annihilation soon after their defeat revealed that they did capture a Latias and Latios with two younger Latias; one normal color and the other a shiny Pokemon. But the records didn't explain anything other than that they were used in experiments; they were found in the wild and brought to the labs immediately. Nothing about Latias' parents was ever talked about; personality of the two, escape attempts, it was just a single document about her parents, her sister and Latias were there and nothing else. Espeon had told her that everyone's Dark Place is different; a dark labyrinth of thoughts, fears, hopes, and past memories all scattered within the mind. To find what you are looking for, you just had to search, but Latias had searched, finding old memories from long ago she didn't remember happening. The thing is within the Dark Place, Psychics sometimes have trouble finding memories often confused with dreams they have had sometimes believing them to be real events that have occurred. Latias at a few times had found a still image, and a moving video-like memory of an adult Latias she didn't recognize, both believing that she had found the very thing she had been searching for all this time. But who shall ever enter their own Dark Place would have confusion over what was a real memory between what they had seen for real. What Latias saw was another Latias not in Team Annihilation's HQ, in a laboratory or some caged room for them to live in, but it was in Zack's own living room, a dream she had of being a grown up when she was younger.

Latias thought about her sister as she turned her head towards the window, watching as the snow continued to fall. 'Maybe Shiny Latias knows about our mother. I know she has done terrible things, but I don't want to kill her.' Ever since Shiny Latias had entered the scenes, escaped Team Annihilation's HQ, she had wanted to talk to her, wanted to help her get out of the life she was in. She wanted to talk to her before Zack got to her first; she wanted to stop any more blood from being shed and wanted a peaceful end to the fighting. She had feared that if Zack does fight with Shiny Latias, she might kill him. Zack wasn't an expert fighter, he was still learning to use his moves. His most powerful move he was good at were Razor Shell followed by his Psychic attack. Shiny Latias worked with Team Annihilation for years, and the last time she had seen here was when she had attacked Zack. A single Pokemon going up against, herself, Dewott and Espeon, all with years of training couldn't handle the likes of Shiny Latias, so how would Zack handle her?

'I don't want anyone else to die, I want us to live.' She glanced down at her belly and gave it another affectionate rub. 'I… I want you to meet you father when all of this is over. I just hope that the fighting doesn't continue as soon as you come into this world. I want to show you so many beautiful things…' She smiled, her eyelids closing. 'I think if it is a female, I would call her Amaya… that's a beautiful name…'

Latias quickly and peacefully fell asleep dreaming of being with her child, living somewhere peaceful with Zack, a happy life together, that's all they have ever wanted. First they would explore the world, each region they came across and just had fun exploring it without worry. And when the moment was right they would settle down and live out their lives in peace, which was original plan. It was the original plan before Team Doom entered the scenes, it was a plan, but soon that plan would never become a reality.

* * *

**Trivia:**

This chapter was originally set when Latias was still a young Pokemon living with her family in Team Annihilation. But this was cut because of future plans I have with that storyline.


	44. Side Story 04 – In need of Friends

Side Story 04/05 – In need of Friends

* * *

****

**Nuvema Town – Pokemon Laboratory**

It was five in the late afternoon, an hour left until the laboratory closed for the day. On the phone in laboratory were a Gardevoir talking to her friend Espeon over the phone, something which she at first thought was a catch up talk or a friendly chat between two friends who have not seen one another in months. But before Gardevoir could ask her friend how the others have been since they left, Espeon interrupted her desperate for her to shut up and listen.

"Gardevoir, listen to me closely when I say this; we need your help. Heck, we need everyone's help with what is about to take place." Gardevoir instead of reading out loud at every word what was in her dictionary to everyone close by she liked to talk too had set the book down on her lap and listened in. The tone of voice from Espeon showed she was serious, and when Espeon was serious in these talks, she knew she had to listen. "Bad things have happened recently… Sakura and Isaac are both dead, killed by the enemy… t-this morning…" Gardevoir gasped and covered her mouth with her paw in shock. "As for the others, we are alright. Sakura and Isaac's Pokemon are going to be returned back to the laboratory tonight, but we need help, Zack needs help. So far it's just a few hundred Savior soldiers all preparing to fight Team Doom very soon, me and Latias. We need you to gather as many of our friends as possible to come over and help Zack take down Team Doom."

"We could come over before it gets too dark. The professor should be able to transfer our Pokeball's over to where you are."

"Right now we are at Opelucid City Pokemon Center. Hurry Gardevoir; gather the others so we can help Zack take down these fuckers. Help us Gardevoir, you are our only hope… movie references at its finest, HAH!" And that was just what Gardevoir did. With a confident nod, she stood up and headed out towards the laboratory garden in search for her friends and assembles a team to fight Team Doom alongside her friends in need of help.

Her first destination was by the tree located at the center of the garden, the usual hangout spot where she and the others like to sit, talk and play together. On cloudless days like this, with the sun just setting over the horizon leaving an orange hue in the sky, she would often find them there watching the sun set until eventually they would head on back inside. But today, she could only find Dewott with his mate pregnant Meowstic and daughter sleeping between the two.

'This will be easy' thought Gardevoir as she approached them. 'Dewott is Zack's best friend, he would never abandon him. I guess we will all be in Opelucid City within less time than I had imagined…'

"I don't want to go." He shrugged. "I don't see the point on going."

"B-but Dewott, we need your help. Soon, Zack is about to fight Team Doom alongside Espeon, Latias and a few hundred Savior members left remaining. We need all the help we can get." Gardevoir pleaded, kneeling down to be at eye level with him. "I know together we can survive this, we have survived much worse."

"That time was a mistake… fighting Team Annihilation barely holding onto our lives… fighting some kind of deity who had wanted to trap all life for us to become his food so he could live forever whilst placing us in a dream-like state, travelling to different regions fighting against crime lords and evil people nonstop, we could've been killed!"

"B-but we weren't." She stuttered, hoping that Dewott would soon change his mind, ready to fight against Team Doom. She didn't want to come back empty handed with her being the only one to appear. "We fought together, we endured the pain and held out to the end to defeat our foes. We can't abandon him when he needs us. I for one am not going to let him go and fight by himself against those awful people"

"What you guys are all doing is suicidal, it's stupid. I'm not going to a part of this, not when the egg is about to hatch. I want to be there to see my child hatch from the egg. Zack shouldn't have gotten involved, but he did and his friends followed him anyway, only to end up dead. I'm not going to die for his idiotic fight."

"D-Dewott, Zack is your friend. He needs you." Dewott didn't say anything as he walked back to be with his family. Gardevoir thought Dewott was his friend, this was unlike him. In the past he would've helped, but now he wouldn't. "Zack's mom died, in case you have forgotten that, Dewott." Dewott stopped. "His MOM, Dewott, right in front of him. I thought you were his friend. I'm going, and I am pretty sure the others will help."

Dewott scoffed and walked away from Gardevoir towards his family. "If the others die when you are out there, don't blame me for me not being there. It was there stupid idea to leave our home to go on this suicidal mission he has us going on." Gardevoir paused and watched Dewott return to his family. _'He just wants to be with his family…'_ she thought, _'No use forcing him, but still… why did he have to say this was stupid? Wouldn't he do the same thing if something were to happen to his loved ones?'_

Seeing as though she had no luck with Dewott, she decided she would try her luck elsewhere with her next Pokemon to see was Golurk who had been helping out in the garden by moving large boulders and fallen down trees to clean up the garden a little after last night's storm had knocked down several trees at the corner of the garden. Gardevoir had climbed up a steep hill to find Golurk moving large tree trunks into a pile of other logs for when a team would arrive and remove them, only to see an incredibly large white Pokemon besides Golurk, helping it by picking up and carrying each fallen tree one at a time with ease.

"Golurk, do you have a minute to talk?" Gardevoir asked, sitting beside the pile of logs. "I know you are busy, but this is about Zack."

Golurk stopped as well as the larger Pokemon Gardevoir had never seen before, assuming it was another Pokemon who happened to have been dropped off by another trainer and was assigned by Professor Juniper to help Golurk out with the fallen trees. "I received a phone call from Espeon recently and she tells me that Zack needs us to come to him in Opelucid City to help him fight against Team Doom. Sakura and Isaac were killed by Team Doom members, so close to their hidden lair. I have been tasked to gather as many as I can to travel to Opelucid soon."

"Is he alright? How is Zack doing?" The larger Pokemon chirped, flapping its wings excitedly at the sound of Zack's name. Gardevoir looked up at the Pokemon with a confused look, surprised that this Pokemon knew who he was. Assuming this Pokemon already knew who he was because Golurk, well it likes to tell stories about their past adventures to the other younger Pokemon living at the garden at 'story time' during the afternoon.

"Miss Gardevoir." Golurk spoke after placing one of the trees it was carrying over to the many piles of collected fallen trees. "This is Lugia, one of Mr Zack's Pokemon from his younger days as a Savior member. It left the group to find out more about itself. It came back to check on Zack and us all for a reunion before it had to go back to its clan."

"My lady." Lugia bowed to Gardevoir, offering her a picked flower. Gardevoir accepted it and used it as a bookmark for her dictionary. "Is Zack alright?"

"He's fine, but his friends Sakura and Isaac were killed today. The Savior members are gathering for the final assault on Team Doom. Zack is going to need all the help he can get if we are to defeat Team Doom. He can't do this alone."

"I shall join Mr Zack to help him defeat Team Doom." Golurk said, walking beside Gardevoir, ready to leave.

"I'm in too." Lugia said as it stood up, flapping its wings. "We should get the others. When do we leave?"

"We still have to gather Totodile and Bayleef, and then we can leave for Opelucid City via Pokeball transfer to the Pokemon Center." Gardevoir, Golurk and Lugia both walked as fast as they could in search for Totodile and Bayleef. She was unsure whether or not she should tell them about if Dewott would be coming with them or not. Lugia or perhaps Golurk would've tried to argue with him, fight with him to come with us. But Dewott wouldn't come, he refused to. If he didn't want to help them fight against Team Doom, then that was up to him.

Totodile and Bayleef were at the lake by the time Gardevoir, Golurk, and Lugia had arrived to see them playing with their children splashing around in the water. Their appearance didn't faze the young Pokemon, but one Pokemon did surprise the two adults, an old friend they hadn't seen in years. "Lugia!" Totodile and Bayleef said at the same time as they ran together up to Lugia opening its wings to pull them in for a giant hug. Gardevoir explained to the couple about the situation that was happening right now, and that Zack needed their help.

"Of course we'll help…" Bayleef nodded before looking at her children playing in the lake. "But please let us say our goodbye's to them. Zack has done so much for us, how could we abandon him now when he needs us? Totodile," Bayleef turned to her mate. "We have to help him, he's our friend."

"I know…" Sighed Totodile, holding her paw with his own. "it'll be hard on the kids." Together, the two parents walked over to their young and called them over, out of the lake and onto the grass, telling them how they had to leave to help out a friend who needed them. They cried, begged not to leave them, but they told the young Pokemon that they had to. Gardevoir had wanted to get this done and over with. All of them would be at the center within minutes after Espeon had told them of the situation. But being separated from a child was tough for the parents, Totodile and Bayleef would be leaving their children here for who knows how long and if at all they or any of them would be coming back. So Gardevoir allowed them all the time they needed.

Two hours, it had taken Two hours since Espeon last called, for Gardevoir to gather the others together to help fight against Team Doom with Zack. Their final fight, and after they would go in early retirement, a life away from The Savior's, away from the dangers of the missions, just to live a happy life.

With the group seemingly all gathered, they walked together back to the laboratory ready and able to fight alongside their friends to help take down Team Doom and come back home together.

* * *

****

**Trivia:**

This side story was focus on everyone's perspective, their thoughts, their fears rather than follow Gardevoir to recruit the others.


	45. Side Story 05 - Care

Side Story 05/05 - Care

* * *

****

**The Savior's – Medical Floor**

Twelve days had passed by slowly since the return of Rank 02 member Zack Raines from his mission in Hoenn, a return that ended in Zack's body changing into a Dewott, a Dewott with white fur, black sclera and blood red eyes. A form that baffled many members of the Savior's who had seen him, including his close friends who were there at the time it happened.

It was an attack by a Pokemon known as Shiny Latias, a Pokemon once associated with Team Annihilation before the fall. During the attack lead by Zack and his friends Sakura and Isaac, Shiny Latias had escaped the base to areas unknown for a long time, only to come out of hiding again to attack Zack, turning him into a Dewott by sticking a needle into his neck and injecting him with the serum later known through records found from Team Annihilation's old base; the Doom Serum, a serum that can change a human into a Pokemon of different color to that of the original forms they take, moves they can learn that they shouldn't originally, and deadly new abilities exclusive to the human turned Pokemon Team Doom members to be used in battle.

At his bed was Latias resting her head close to Zack's as she watched over him. It was almost two weeks after the attack, since she last heard the sound of her trainer's voice, her best friend. She as worried about him, fearing he wouldn't wake up. "Don't be worried about him," Said Dewott, leaning back against the wall on the opposite side of the room relaxed next to Espeon looking out of the window with Gardevoir. "Zack's a fighter; he'll be up and at 'em in no time."

"But when will he wake up?" Latias whispered tearfully, refusing to turn her head away from Zack's. "No one knows what going on, or why he's a Pokemon. Who knows what Shiny Latias did to him. He's been like this for almost two weeks now… how much longer will he be like this?" She cried.

Dewott shrugged awkwardly, glancing over at Espeon and poking at her with his finger to join in and help ease the situation. Espeon hoped away from the window and walked slowly over to the hospital bed. "The docs here at the Savior's are doing all they can on understanding on the situation with Zack and his transformation. Give them time and we'll find out soon enough."

"But when? Twelve days and still-" Was all Latias could muster before being interrupted by Espeon as she closed the remaining distance and approached her.

"Latias, Zack won't be like this forever, he will wake up. But please, don't worry. I assure you, he will wake up. I can tell you this not to upset you or worry you, but I do not know when he will wake up again. But you must remain hopeful that eventually one day soon he will open his eyes again." Latias slowly turned away from Zack and starred at Espeon. The two locked eyes with each other before any of them said anything. After a slow nod from Latias understanding of Espeon's words of comfort, she returned to look back at Zack.

Espeon hoped up on the foot of the bed and lied down, looking at Zack's still body. She smiled and lightly patted Zack's foot with her paw. "His color scheme kinda reminds me of a 'Doreo' a totally original tasty cookies and cream delight. Jeez, I gotta get me some soon…"

"I'm going to head on back to catch some shut eye." Gardevoir said as she walked over towards the open door of the room. "Anyone else want to walk back with me?"

"Yeah, I guess it's time for me to reture for the day." Dewott yawned, stretching before walking to stand beside Gardevoir. "Are you coming to, Espeon? How about you, Latias?"

Espeon scoffed. "Latias won't leave Zackary alone, at least not this 'early' as Latias puts it. I'd say give it till three or five in the morning before she retires and heads on back to the dorms. As for me I'll hang out and keep Latias and Zackary company for a while until I feel sleepy and head on back. Catch ya later you two. Don't let the bedbugs bite."

After the two left, both Latias and Espeon remained quiet as they starred at their trainer still in a coma. It took about thirty minutes before either one said anything. "Do you think you dream while in a coma?" Espeon asked her sudden voice making Latias jump a little after the long silence. "For two weeks… I wonder what it must feel like. Perhaps by the time they wake up I'll probably be as if minutes passed since they were last awake, or maybe they can dream."

"I hope they're good ones, if he is dreaming." Latias said as she shifted her weight to move her body to look back at Espeon. "Do you think he can hear us?" Espeon shook her head and replied with. "I don't know. I hope not after Gardevoir's thirty page dictionary reading session. Man, now that was a bore. Wasn't it?" She laughed, earning a slight chuckle from Latias. For whoever knows how long it took, Gardevoir had read from one of her many dictionaries to tell everyone about the 'wonders and amazing words' of the dictionary.

"It wasn't that bad." Latias laughed. "Especially when she got to the swear words and had to read them out to us. Do you remember the doctor that entered as soon as she heard Gardevoir say that word?"

"Oh my gosh, Yeah! The look on her face was so priceless. Damn it! I wish I could've recorded it at the time… ah man." Espeon chuckled along with Latias, remembering how Gardevoir's reading dictionary session kinda died down during the twentieth page out of the thirty pages she read from, slowing her voice down, growing embarrassed the closer she had gotten to another swear word in the dictionary.. "That was about twenty pages in, right? You know, I think when she was about to come to the next swear, it looked like she was trying to avoid it."

"And when she got to a certain word we all knew was coming, her face turned incredibly red like a Tamato Berry and she was all like 'Oh you know what forget it!' and she slammed the book closed!" Latias laughed loudly, causing a stray tear to run down her cheek and onto the bed sheets. Espeon smiled to, letting out a chuckle in between each breath. Latias hadn't been like this since Zack fell into a coma. Espeon grew worried for her, she hadn't eaten, slept. Worried that her trainer and her friend would remain in this bed never waking.

"There ya go Latias, you're smiling again." Latias looked back at her and gave her a confused look. "I mean, we haven't seen you like this before Zackary got like this." Latias nodded slowly and turned back to Zack, but Espeon continued. "We should all do something together to cheer us all up, get our minds off of things. Joke around like before, maybe moments with that dictionary again." She chuckled to herself, Latias smiled. "I know this has been difficult for you, Latias, but uh… Zackary wouldn't want you to be sad; he'd want you to be happy. You have been in here for almost every day for many hours since he becme like this. So how about tomorrow we get together, have fun with Super Dash Brothers, talk about stuff, and have more happier moments like this one?"

Latias didn't want to leave Zack, she didn't want to decline Espeon's offer to help cheer her up, to cheer everyone up after the near two weeks of waiting for an update to Zack's condition. She then thought 'What if Zack would wake up and I am not there? He would be scared, or shocked about the change… but Espeon's right, I have been in here since we got back… Zack wouldn't want me to be like this.' Latias nodded her head. "Okay Espeon, I agree to this, I will hang out with you guys. And besides, I look like a mess." She laughed as she ruffled her messy feathers sticking up off from the top of her head.

"I'm glad Latias, I really am. So get yourself s good night's rest, and tomorrow we'll have ourselves a really good time." She sighed exhaustedly. Espeon got up with a stretch and hopped up off the bed before walking up to Latias and giving her a hug with her forelegs wrapped around her long neck. "I'm going to go and retire for the night Latias." Espeon looked back at her with a smile, and Latias smiled back. "Goodnight Latias. Don't stay up too late." Leaving Latias as she watched over Zack for the night.

"Z-Zack, it's me… L-Latias. If you can hear me, I want you to know that we are not giving up on you. All of us at the Savior's are trying to come up with a solution on figuring out how to fix this." Latias got the courage to talk to him, nervous, wanting to tell him things she has never told anyone. She had waited for an hour before she talked, trying to figure out the words she would say to him. Zack remained silent, his chest moving slowly lifting the bed sheets up and down. Latias was reminded of the time Zack was like this once, but he was sick, a terrible cold and had to be bedridden for almost a week. She didn't want to lose her friend and stayed be his side and helped warm him up. But now in his current state, she didn't know what to do. She wanted to help him, she wanted him to wake up and things would be normal again. Latias wiped her eyes and gave one last look at Zack before she closed her eyes and prayed. "Arceus, please… please don't do this to him, please help him wake up." She cried, her voice becoming quieter with each word, almost in a whisper as she held both paws close to her chest and close to her beating heart for what she was about to say, not caring if Zack would be able to hear her or not, or if anyone else was in the room besides them, a secret for all to hear. "Please wake him up, I-I promise, I promise I'll tell him everything, how I feel about him… please don't let him sleep forever… please…"

In the early morning of a new day, in the medical floor of the Savior's HQ in one of the many rooms for the patients, in Zack's room, after a two week long coma… slowly, Zack's eyelids opened up… two weeks, he was now awake.

* * *

Trivia:

This chapter was originally included in the first section of chapter 01 of the story, but it was cut since I wanted Zack's new form to be a surprise in way… yeah.

**AN: 40 chapters down, 5 side stories complete equals story 03 over and done with. At this moment in time I can rest for a while before working on the fourth story which will be released early next year at some point but done a lot quicker rather than take almost a year to write unlike the previous time. Well, thanks for reading the story, I would love to read your guys uh thoughts on the story so please leave a review if you want.**

**So uh, until next time. Take it easy guys.**


End file.
